Getty Stefon Diggs #14 of the Buffalo Bills warms up prior to a game against the New York Jets at Highmark Stadium on December 11, 2022.
There could be something a little deeper than sibling teasing in the messages that Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs has been getting from his little brother.
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs has been taking to social media in an attempt to recruit his brother, including messages that have gotten increasingly overt. Though Stefon Diggs has dismissed the drumbeat of messages as his brother being playful, a new report suggests that it could actually put the Cowboys in some hot water with the league.
Messages Recruiting Bills Receiver Could Cross the Line
Trevon Diggs has spent several weeks sending messages trying to convince Stefon to join the Cowboys, even though the All-Pro wide receiver is still under contract with the Bills for three more years. Trevon took to Instagram to share a picture of his brother wearing a Cowboys jersey, and in an appearance on the Blogging the Boys podcast asked Dallas fans to join in the recruiting effort.
“We need Cowboys Nation to go and help and tweet to get bro here,” Trevon Diggs said. “We need everyone to know. We need to put it on notice that we need to get bro to Dallas.”
Trevon Diggs posted an edit of Stefon Diggs in a Dallas Cowboys jersey on his Instagram story.
(via @TrevonDiggs)
As Zach Dimmitt of SI.com’s Bills Central noted, the messages could cross the line into tampering. Dimmitt pointed out that the league’s policy on tampering prohibits any team or person affiliated with that team to “tamper with a player who is under contract to or whose exclusive negotiating rights are held by another club.”
“So, by definition, it appears as if Trevon is technically tampering with his older brother by publicly asking for Stefon to be traded while he’s under contract in Buffalo,” Dimmitt wrote. “It hasn’t even been a year since Stefon signed a four-year, $96 million extension with the Bills. He’s under contract for quite a while and his rights belong to Buffalo. Trevon is clearly making sure that’s no longer the case.”
Stefon Diggs has dismissed his brother’s messages, joking during an appearance on the USA Today Sports Show that Trevon is lonely in Dallas and wants his brother to keep him company.
“It would be fun,” Diggs said of the idea that he might join his brother in Dallas. “My brother is kind of a quiet person so he doesn’t talk to too many people. So, that’s probably part of the reason he wants me there. He probably has like… a couple of friends, you know?”
NFL Punished Bills’ Rival for Tampering
Though it is rare for the league to hand down punishments for tampering, there have been some high-profile instances in recent years including one for a top rival of the Bills. The league announced in August of last year that the Miami Dolphins and owner Stephen Ross violated the anti-tampering policy while pursuing quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Sean Payton.
The league had also investigated a claim from former head coach Brian Flores that Ross offered to pay him $100,000 for every game the team lost in 2019 in order to improve their draft position, but found that the team did not deliberately lose.
The NFL stripped the Dolphins of their first-round draft pick in 2023 and their third-round pick in 2024, while also suspending Ross through October 17 of last year and fining him $1.5 million.
The messages from Trevon Diggs to his brother may seem trivial by comparison, and there is no evidence that the Cowboys as an organization are making any kind of effort to swing a trade with the Bills for Stefon Diggs, but Dimmitt suggested that it still violates the letter of the league’s law regarding tampering.
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Cowboys Could Be in Hot Water Over Messages to Bills WR Stefon Diggs