Getty Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs at Gillette Stadium on October 22, 2023.
After enduring an offseason of drama from wide receiver Stefon Diggs, some Buffalo Bills fans are already getting weary about more this offseason and seizing on a remark from head coach Sean McDermott.
The Bills coach addressed the up-and-down season from Diggs in the days after the team’s playoff exit, telling reporters this week that the receiver never wavered on his commitment to the team despite his mid-season struggles. But some fans seized on the wording of his reply and wondered if Diggs could be coming to an end of his time in Buffalo — an idea that an insider quickly refuted.
Sean McDermott’s Reply Stirs Speculation
As WHAM-13 reporter Dan Fetes shared on X, McDermott was full of praise for Diggs and said he was a phenomenal teammate this year. Despite the praise, some fans seized on McDermott’s choice of verb tense and wondered if it meant that Diggs was done in Buffalo.
“Was? Buh-bye,” one fan wrote.
But Fetes shot down the idea, clarifying that McDermott was not making any comment about the receiver’s future with the team.
“Sean was asked about Stefon Diggs performance THIS season,” he posted on X. “Meaning the PAST season. Overreacting to the word ‘was’ is idiotic. Everyone chill.”
Diggs endured a turbulent offseason last year, starting with his heated outburst on the sidelines during the team’s playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He continued to stir drama with a series of cryptic social media posts, culminating when he was sent home on the first day of mandatory minicamp.
But Diggs had problems during this season, remaining committed despite a dip in performance over the second half of the season.
Bills Remain Committed to Stefon Diggs
McDermott’s full remarks made it clear that the team is standing by Diggs despite his dropoff in production. He averaged just 41 receiving yards per game over the final seven games of the season including the playoffs, and had no receiving touchdowns. As ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg noted, it was the longest stretch of his career without a touchdown.
McDermott said he did not know what was behind the drop, but still stood by the receiver and stressed that he had been a great teammate throughout the season.
“I can’t say in particular why specifically [Diggs’ production dropped],” McDermott told reporters on January 23. “If I could, we would flip it back that way, right? To the way it started earlier in the year. Sometimes defenses evolve, sometimes there are more things on tape through the course of the season and people copy them, what’s on tape.
“Listen, Stef is a great player. I love Stef. He was a phenomenal teammate. I like how the offense found some rhythm, though, under [interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady], and Stef got back involved at times, especially down the stretch, at least in the last two or three games, so to speak.”