Diggs traded to Texans for picks

[Bill from NYC]

I am thinking that perhaps I'm going against the grain with my opinion. I have been very tough on McDermott but my initial reaction to this trade is positive but with a caveat.

 

If he dedicates the early picks to WRs and OTs, I think it was a good move. I don't think that Diggs is getting better, and a #2 is frankly a bit more than I expected. This draft appears to be loaded with receivers and OL, and now is the time to focus more on the offense and these positions specifically.

 

The caveat? If McDermott drafts safeties, corners and other defenders with the early picks we will be heading right back to the Levy/Jauron days and lose football games. I truly hope this doesn't happen but again, at this point I support the trade.

 

Jmo.

[LabattBlue]

Just now, Coldfronts said:

The Biggest Dead cap hit in NFL History!

Which speaks volumes for how badly they wanted him off the team.  

[thenorthremembers]

8 minutes ago, ALLinALLEN said:

We're losing our #1 WR from the last 4 years, and he was ELITE for the past 3. We should have won one with him here and his numbers.

You dont make real life decisions on what was or what isnt.   You make real life decisions on what is.   You're also using the word "elite" very loosely when referring to last year.      There were 4 Elite players at wideout last season, Tyreek Hill, Mike Evans, CeeDee Lamb, and Amon Ra St Brown.   Those guys put up huge numbers and were game changers.   Not one of them played with a QB near as good as Josh Allen. 

 

We will find a new #1 wideout and hopefully he will be a more well adjusted person. 

[Thurman#1]

 

1 minute ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

It was the majority of his season.  totally fair.  he was in free fall---time to cut him loose 

 

 

Totally unfair.

 

We still don't know what caused that freefall. Was it that with the playbook from an old OC and the playcalling of a new OC they couldn't find a good way to use him? Nobody can say for sure, but that is very likely a large part of the problem, if not most of it.

You can pretend that it was all on Diggs. But there's no reason to think that's right. Could easily have been on others to a large extent. Now we'll never know. Pretending we do know, and putting it all on Diggs, is just sour grapes.

 

And it's a stone fact that he was drawing the vast bulk of the coverage and making things much easier for the other WRs.

 

Certain kinds of WRs tend to start going downhill early. Diggs' type, the exceptional route-runners not dependent of top end speed, tend to last longer. Every reason to think he'll still be very very productive for several more years. Unfortunately.

 

We are going to pay him in the high $20M range to watch him on TV catching passes in Texas. This was a horrendous time to let him go.

 

But it doesn't seem like we had any better choices, with how relations with him were proceeding.

 

 

[Sgt. Ski]

3 hours ago, FireChans said:

https://x.com/adamschefter/status/1775537949104394657?s=46&t=GGNmxHtuMQWK-ZEccAMZsQ

 

shout out @BillsFanForever19

 

lost out on that trade!! a 2nd next year? rebuild i guess

[Thurman#1]

1 minute ago, LabattBlue said:

Which speaks volumes for how badly they wanted him off the team.  

 

 

Yeah, I think so. Still a shame it came to this.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

Maybe we can find a way to get either Thomas or OBJ. I know this probably hurts our financial flexibility but maybe there can be some magic with the numbers. If we used all these picks ti move way up and grab one of the elite WRs and added with M. Thomas or OBJ.. then all of a sudden I like what we have.

[BBFL]

6 minutes ago, Livinginthepast said:

The move was not really a big surprise but I had a huge empty feeling when I found out. Obviously Diggs was a pain in the butt sometimes in the locker room but his zero tolerance of losing and BS was pretty impressive. Also one the best receivers we have had in years here and one of the toughest players I've ever seen based on the hits he took (often late and dirty). He also made some huge catches in his time here and got some key TDs. It saddens me that one of the final memories of him will be that drop in his last game against KC and Allen overlooking him wide open at the end of the game. Just like with Trey, Poyer and Hyde, Diggs deserved to win a championship here. One of my favorite Diggs moments was him getting a TD vs NE where he berate the audience in Gillette with F bombs. Totally rude but awesome!

Precisely where I’m at. Stings more that he was traded to the biggest up and comer in the NFL, let alone the AFC. 

 

Houston are going to have a chance to be a serious problem. 
 

They signed Danielle Hunter and Autry to add to their pass rush whilst adding Mario Edwards who is decent depth. 
 

The secondary sees Jeff Okudah and CJ Henderson brought in to support Stingley and Desmond King (who they also resigned). 
 

On top of those additions to the defense they brought back Noah Brown. Acquired Joe Mixon and now add Stefon Diggs. 
 

They’re now on par with us in the AFC. 

[appoo]

 

[Low Positive]

Just now, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

Maybe we can find a way to get either Thomas or OBJ. I know this probably hurts our financial flexibility but maybe there can be some magic with the numbers. If we used all these picks ti move way up and grab one of the elite WRs and added with M. Thomas or OBJ.. then all of a sudden I like what we have.

OBJ is a bigger diva and older. No thanks.

[Toledo Bill]

At least no more of those behind the line of scrimmage passes to the Diva

[SoTier]

6 minutes ago, Beast said:

As a reminder, when Diggs did his disappearing act, the Bills went on their 5 game winning streak. 
 

They’ll be more than fine without him.

 

I was shocked by the news of the Diggs trade, but I think it makes sense because I think that the Bills, ie, Joe Brady, wants multiple options on offense so that teams cannot assume when the Bills come out in W personnel, they're going to do X or if they are in Y personnel, theyr'e going to do Z .   That's how they went on their winning streak without either Davis or Diggs doing much pass catching.  The versatility of passing out of apparent running formations and vice versa makes an offense much harder to defend against.

[Sestak4ever]

4 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

or Eric Moulds. imagine Moulds with a Josh Allen? sheesh

It was a while back but Jerry Butler was right there with the best.

[thenorthremembers]

Just now, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

 

Totally unfair.

 

We still don't know what caused that freefall. Was it that with the playbook from an old OC and the playcalling of a new OC they couldn't find a good way to use him? Nobody can say for sure, but that is very likely a large part of the problem, if not most of it.

You can pretend that it was all on Diggs. But there's no reason to think that's right. Could easily have been on others to a large extent. Now we'll never know. Pretending we do know, and putting it all on Diggs, is just sour grapes.

 

And it's a stone fact that he was drawing the vast bulk of the coverage and making things much easier for the other WRs.

 

Certain kinds of WRs tend to start going downhill early. Diggs' type, the exceptional route-runners not dependent of top end speed, tend to last longer. Every reason to think he'll still be very very productive for several more years. Unfortunately.

 

We are going to pay him in the high $20M range to watch him on TV catching passes in Texas. This was a horrendous time to let him go.

 

But it doesn't seem like we had any better choices, with how relations with him were proceeding.

 

 

I can tell you right now what caused the free fall.  Diggs thought he deserved to be on a Super Bowl winning team.   When 13 seconds happened he blamed McDermott and started getting salty.    The second year it didnt happen he blamed Allen, he got a little more salty, decided not to show up for training camp on time.  After this year, he got it in his head he couldnt win a Super Bowl while in Buffalo so he started making noise about a trade.

 

Maybe when he doesnt win one this year in Houston he will take a look in the mirror. 

[LabattBlue]

1 minute ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

Maybe we can find a way to get either Thomas or OBJ. I know this probably hurts our financial flexibility but maybe there can be some magic with the numbers. If we used all these picks ti move way up and grab one of the elite WRs and added with M. Thomas or OBJ.. then all of a sudden I like what we have.

OBJ or Thomas will make you feel better about the WR room?  Based on what?  Certainly not their play in 2023 

[folz]

Loved watching Stefon and I'm thankful for all he brought to the Bills. I wish him the best and will continue to root for him (except when playing the Bills).

 

But, this was the right move (whether Stefon was trying to force it or not). The relationship between Josh and Stefon had obviously soured. And they had kind of been co-leaders of the offense for a few years. Tough if your co-leaders aren't seeing eye to eye. This empowers Josh to be THE leader of the offense and the team. He doesn't have to worry about stepping on anyone's toes, forcing balls, etc. It is his team now. And if someone truly is unhappy somewhere, you are better off letting them go before too much resentment builds up anyways. And as much as a lot of us didn't want to admit it at the time, there were obviously issues for Stefon dating back at least to the Cincy playoff game.

 

We are in a transition period. I wish we could have won a Super Bowl while we still had all of the guys who helped dig us out of the drought and ushered in a new era of Bills football (Jordan, Micah, Tre, Stefon, Mitch, Beasley, etc.)...but we couldn't hold on any longer. The team would have continued getting older and each season the odds of us advancing to the big game would have just decreased. Beane is ripping off the band-aid.

 

Besides, we all know Big Baller Beane has something up his sleeve. All of the maneuvering and the number of picks we have reminds me of the year he fought into the top 10 for Josh. So, I expect at least one very good WR to be added (wouldn't mind seeing two come in the draft). 

 

Very sad offseason (in the players we had to let go)...but also necessary. We are entering a new era of Bills football...kind of like the third chapter of Josh's career.

[jkeerie]

1 minute ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

 

Totally unfair.

 

We still don't know what caused that freefall. Was it that with the playbook from an old OC and the playcalling of a new OC they couldn't find a good way to use him? Nobody can say for sure, but that is very likely a large part of the problem, if not most of it.

You can pretend that it was all on Diggs. But there's no reason to think that's right. Could easily have been on others to a large extent. Now we'll never know. Pretending we do know, and putting it all on Diggs, is just sour grapes.

 

And it's a stone fact that he was drawing the vast bulk of the coverage and making things much easier for the other WRs.

 

Certain kinds of WRs tend to start going downhill early. Diggs' type, the exceptional route-runners not dependent of top end speed, tend to last longer. Every reason to think he'll still be very very productive for several more years. Unfortunately.

 

We are going to pay him in the high $20M range to watch him on TV catching passes in Texas. This was a horrendous time to let him go.

 

But it doesn't seem like we had any better choices, with how relations with him were proceeding.

 

 

Actually this was a good time to let him go.  The cap hit this year is only $3M more than it would have been with Diggs on the roster.  Next year, Diggs would have no value in trade since he would be a year older and likely cut for the cap savings.  No dead cap hit moving forward.  With the depth at wideout in this year's draft, it will  be easier to find his replacement. 

[ALLinALLEN]

4 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

You dont make real life decisions on what was or what isnt.   You make real life decisions on what is.   You're also using the word "elite" very loosely when referring to last year.      There were 4 Elite players at wideout last season, Tyreek Hill, Mike Evans, CeeDee Lamb, and Amon Ra St Brown.   Those guys put up huge numbers and were game changers.   Not one of them played with a QB near as good as Josh Allen. 

 

We will find a new #1 wideout and hopefully he will be a more well adjusted person. 

The 3 elite years were prior to last year, my apologies. I'm exuding frustration that this franchise couldnt win 1 with an elite top 5 WR and a top 2 QB and now we're parting with half of that.

[BuffaloBillyG]

6 minutes ago, Coldfronts said:

The Biggest Dead cap hit in NFL History!

5th biggest, actually. Not even the biggest of this season, either.

 

https://sports.betmgm.com/en/blog/nfl-history-biggest-dead-salary-cap-hits/

[Bruffalo]

3 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

Maybe we can find a way to get either Thomas or OBJ. I know this probably hurts our financial flexibility but maybe there can be some magic with the numbers. If we used all these picks ti move way up and grab one of the elite WRs and added with M. Thomas or OBJ.. then all of a sudden I like what we have.

The longer they sit out there the cheaper they'll be.  Thomas + trade up 1st round WR is more interesting to me than OBJ, but I wouldn't hate it.