Getty Stefon Diggs reacts in playoff game versus Chiefs.
Stefon Diggs is breaking his silence on this year’s controversial exit from the Buffalo Bills and throwing some subtle shade at the team over the messy split.
The Bills shipped Diggs to the Houston Texans in a deal last March, an abrupt end to a successful but complicated tenure in Buffalo. Diggs helped turn the team into perennial Super Bowl contenders, but also attracted controversy with cryptic statements and building frustrations with the team and quarterback Josh Allen.
Diggs is now opening up about the move, hinting in an interview with GQ Sports that he felt slighted at his diminishing role in the offense as the year went on.
Stefon Diggs: ‘I Was in the Worst Mental Space’
More than a year before the trade that sent him to Houston, Diggs was already sparking speculation that he may be unhappy in Buffalo. He was seen growing visibly frustrated with Allen during the team’s playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, then shared a series of social media posts throughout the offseason hinting at discontent with the team.
In his interview this week, Diggs admitted that he was not in a good mental space during the 2023 season.
“Last year, I was in the worst mental space I’ve been in since I’ve been in the league,” Diggs said. “If I’m not in a good space, obviously that’s not the best for me. So that’s when things had to start shaking out.”
Stefon Diggs Talks ‘Blame’ for Late-Season Slump
Diggs had a strong start to the 2023 season. Through the first six games of the season, he was on pace for a season of 139 catches for 1,757 yards and 14 touchdowns. But over the next seven games, Diggs had the same number of targets but saw his pace drop off significantly.
Diggs continued to play a lesser role in the playoffs, making seven catches for 52 yards in the wild-card round win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and just three catches for 21 yards in a divisional-round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Diggs also had a critical drop in the Chiefs loss, missing on a long pass that would have put the Bills in field goal range late in the fourth quarter.
Diggs hinted that he wasn’t the problem over the course of the second-half slump, throwing some subtle shade at the team.
“The games looked a lot different,” Diggs said. “You can blame me. I don’t mind blaming me. I got big-*** shoulders. But pay attention, pay real close attention. Watch the game. Of course there’s plenty of plays I want back. But there’s a lot of plays that didn’t go my way. I need a lot of things to go right to get the ball … You can’t roll out of bed and get 800 yards in the first eight games. Your best receiver’s doing that. You tell me about the last 10. What changed? Were there changes going on? I just pay attention to what really happened and not what people try to act like happened. Like, for the last 10 games, I forgot how to ****ing play football?”
Stefon Diggs claimed that he was only traded because he wanted to be.
Diggs also confirmed that the Bills did not want to part ways with him, but instead the wide receiver engineered his exit just as he had with the Minnesota Vikings in 2020.
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Stefon Diggs Throws Subtle Shade at Bills Over Controversial Exit