Getty Stefon Diggs warms up before a Buffalo Bills game.
The Buffalo Bills may need to trade star receiver Stefon Diggs sometime in the near future — at least, according to one former general manager.
Doug Whaley, who served as Buffalo’s general manager before being replaced by Brandon Beane in 2017, said in an interview on Sirius XMNFL that the Bills may not be able to afford Diggs now that fellow wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams scored mega deals. He predicted that the Bills would instead need to trade Diggs, an idea not sitting well with many Bills fans and insiders.
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Whaley’s Suggestion Meets Pushback
Many Bills fans seemed to disagree with Whaley’s prediction. WGR 550’s Jeremy White said the assertion sounded crazy, hinting that the Bills would be more likely to pay Diggs the money that puts him on par with other star receivers.
“Former Bills GM Doug Whaley suggested the Bills might look to trade Diggs, rather than get into the huge WR money game with him. Sounds nuts,” White tweeted.
Matt Bove of Buffalo’s WKBW also said it would be unlikely for the Bills to deal the player who helped vault them into Super Bowl contention.
“Stefon Diggs completely changed the culture of the Buffalo Bills,” he tweeted. “He should be part of this team as long as he wants to be. So no, he should not be dealt. This year is all about winning the Super Bowl and without him, they aren’t nearly as good of a team.
Former Bills GM Doug Whaley suggested the Bills might look to trade Diggs, rather than get into the huge WR money game with him. Sounds nuts.
IF they did it:
There are others predicting that the Bills will give Diggs the money he deserves. Many believe he has outplayed his current contract, and the two years and $35.9 million that Diggs has remaining on his contract looks light compared to Hill and Adams. Former NFL general manager and ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum said that Diggs will likely get somewhere on par with them.
“When you look at the top of the market with Davante Adams, obviously Tyreek Hill, they’re pushing the market,” Tannenbaum said, via ESPN. “We kind of coalesced around $20-21 million (per year for wide receivers) for a while, and when DeAndre Hopkins went out to Arizona from Houston, pushed it to $27 million. Now … anywhere between $25 to roughly 30 million a year for Adams and Hill, and based on how Diggs has played, he’s certainly in that conversation as well, which is always good news/bad news for Buffalo, which is he’s played terrific. He’s come over, helped, been part of the solution.
“… If I’m Diggs, I’m thinking I don’t want to take anything less than Tyreek Hill or Adams.”
Brandon Beane appears in no hurry to do a Stefon Diggs contract extension.
I know that seems to worry many of #BillsMafia, but it doesn’t the #Bills GM.
“I don’t see that being an issue.”
Diggs Could Get New Deal
Many following Diggs closely on social media believe he has been dropping hints about a desire for a new contract, and the Bills may agree. Beane said at NFL owners’ meetings last week that the team has had an open dialogue with Diggs and his agent since the season ended, and hinted that a deal could be somewhere in the near future.
Brandon Beane: I don’t see Stefon Diggs’ contract being an issue
But Beane pushed back against putting any artificial timeline on the negotiations, pointing to the work last season into getting a long-term extension for quarterback Josh Allen.
“As I said a couple weeks ago, and I’ve always said back to Josh’s contract or somebody else’s, contracts get done when they’re supposed to get done,” Beane said, via ESPN. “If something gets done at some point this offseason, we’d let you know.”
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