Getty Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs at FedExField on September 24, 2023.
The Buffalo Bills have faced trade rumors on wide receiver Stefon Diggs for close to a year, starting with the wide receiver’s turbulent end to the 2022 season and months of cryptic posts on social media.
One reports suggests that the coming offseason could be the perfect time for the Bills to actually pull the trigger, moving Diggs in order to give bigger roles to a pair of budding stars. Connor Livesay of The 33rd Team suggested that the Bills would consider moving Diggs if they fall short of the playoffs this year.
Timing Right for a Trade?
Livesay wrote that with rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid and second-year wide receiver Khalil Shakir “progressing nicely,” the Bills could feel more free to consider trading Diggs. Kincaid Kincaid has 61 receptions for 495 yards and two touchdowns this season, while Shakir has 26 receptions for 422 yards and two touchdowns.
“Diggs is still one of the NFL’s most talented wide receivers, but the Bills are 6-6 and are currently out of the playoffs,” Livesay wrote on December 8, before the Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs to move to 7-6. “We could see a brand-new Buffalo team in 2024 if its standing doesn’t improve.”
Livesay added that the trade would require a partner willing to take on the All-Pro wide receiver’s big contract.
“Diggs is just two years into the five-year, $96-million contract extension he signed in 2022. So the team trading for Diggs would give up draft capital and take on a relatively big contract,” he wrote.
The Bills could already be losing one major part of their receiving corps, with No. 2 receiver Gabe Davis coming to the end of his rookie contract and the cap-strapped Bills facing some tough decisions on which free agents to keep.
Bills Have Shot Down Trade Rumors
Though Diggs sparked plenty of speculation last offseason when he shared social media posts hinting at some discontentment — which came to a head when he was sent home on the first day of the team’s mandatory minicamp — the receiver has insisted that there are no problems and he has not desire to leave the team.
The Bills front office has echoed that stance. General manager Brandon Beane said in an August 1 on Pat McAfee Show that the team never considered trading Diggs — and no other teams reached out to inquire on his availability.
“No, no one called on Diggs. I think people know that he’s ours,” Beane said. “Even if there was an issue, and he was never asking to be traded, it never came up.”
“Stefon Diggs never asked to be traded and it was truly never an issue..
We just needed to get in a room and talk about how last season finished and get on the same page” ~ Brandon Beane #PMSLive
Beane said there were some issues that needed to be hashed out between the coaching staff and Diggs, who was visibly unhappy during the team’s season-ending loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Bills general manager said that work took place when Diggs returned for minicamp in June.
“It truly was never an issue, it was just more us getting in a room and talking through how last season finished and getting on the same page,” Beane said.