A Farewell to Stefon Diggs: The Player and The Era.

TRADE & CAP DETAILS

OUT: WR Stefon Diggs, 2024 sixth-round selection (#189), 2025 fifth-round selection

IN: 2025 second-round selection via Minnesota

BILLS CAP

Previous Diggs 2024 cap hit if on Bills roster: $27,854,000

Post-trade 2024 dead money via already-paid accelerated bonus allocations: $31,096,000 ($3,242,000 in new cap charges)

• $12,800,000 of a $16,000,000 option bonus which was part of a four-year, $96 million extension in 2022

• $12,900,000 of a $21,500,000 signing bonus which was part of a four-year, $96 million extension in 2022

• $5,396,000 of a $6,745,000 base salary conversion restructure in 2023

TEXANS CAP

Per Over the Cap, the Texans and Diggs revised the contract after the trade, adding in 2024 a $250,000 workout bonus and $255,000 per game roster bonuses to total $22,520,000 in guaranteed money. The revised deal added four void years for cap purposes giving Diggs a 2024 cap number of $5,876,000 with the remaining $16,644,000 hitting in 2025 should the contract not be extended before voiding.

Texans 2024 cap hit: $5,876,000

Texans 2025 cap hit (if voided): $16,644,000

• $18,500,000 2024 guaranteed base salary

• $3,515,000 2025 guaranteed base salary

• $250,000 workout bonus

• $255,000 per game roster bonuses

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Here's how I began the first installment of my 2024 Bills Offseason Plan:

Stefon Diggs wants to be traded from the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills should cut Stefon Diggs.

I’m what you would call an Optimistic Bills Fan. I frequently remind myself that this is the second-best time to ever be a Bills fan in the history of the franchise. That landing a true franchise QB is something two-thirds of the league struggles with season in, season out. That, with a healthy Josh Allen, the Bills are one of a handful of teams that can realistically hope to take down Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

So, whenever a Stefon Diggs trade rumor or press conference quote or social media post hints at him wanting out of Buffalo I roll my eyes and move on. But this time, I wanted to dig deeper. Could these transactions even be possible given the current financial state of the Bills? What started as a simple question transformed into a full-length offseason plan.

Needless to say, I was shocked that the Bills would move on from Diggs and trigger over $31 million in a dead money cap charge. In many ways Diggs was the heart and soul of this recent era of Bills football. Allen is the superstar quarterback, leaping linebackers in a single bound, who is tied to Buffalo for the foreseeable future after signing a six-year extension in August 2021. Diggs represented something deeper within Bills Mafia. The sideline outbursts were nothing more than a guy that wanted to win above all else. He was the edge and jolt the offense needed from time to time. His play commanded such attention from opposing defenses that others were able to shine. Cole Beasley, Emmanuel Sanders, Gabe Davis, and Khalil Shakir all took turns in the spotlight while working across from #14.

Diggs signed a four-year, $96 million extension with Buffalo on April 6th, 2022 - coincidentally the day after my son was born. When he started walking and it came time to buy him his first jersey the decision was a no-brainer. The heartbeat of the franchise had just signed an extension seemingly tying him to Buffalo for the remainder of his prime and through at least 2025. Sure, Diggs has a some diva in him, but what top wide receiver doesn't? And sure, he sends some cryptic tweets from time to time. Just having fun with the fans and media. I was proud to have my son wearing #14. A fifth-round pick who worked his way to the top of his position. Slightly undersized, but overly competitive with a knack for twisting the defender across from him using a dazzling display of footwork and precision route running. Someone I could point to one day and say, "Son, you should've seen that guy in his prime with the Bills!"

Seventy-three days earlier the Bills had squandered what has become its best shot at a Super Bowl during the Allen era. A crushing 42-36 overtime loss to the Chiefs, complete with a classic embarrassing Bills sequence. Thirteen seconds away. I was at that game with my father. He doesn't fly, but I was able to convince him to take an overnight train from Buffalo to Chicago. I flew from New York to Chicago, rented a car, and picked him up. We then set out for a eight hour drive to Kansas City. It was the perfect father-son weekend - except for those 13 seconds. The images of Diggs watching the Chiefs celebrate are burned into every Bills fans' mind. It is tough to admit, but looking back, it felt like a gut punch swinging doors moment even at the time. I'll never forget that long, slow zombie walk out of the stadium and into the parking lot. I can't remember how many Chiefs fans came up to my dad and I to say how great of a game it was and how the Bills should have won. Coulda woulda shoulda. So it goes for the Buffalo Bills.

Fast forward to what is (for now) the last game Stefon Diggs played in a Buffalo Bills uniform. My 41st birthday, in attendance with my dad and brother, just days after a snow storm had forced the rescheduling of the Bills wild card game versus Pittsburgh. Finally, Patrick Mahomes would be forced to play a road playoff game, and what better setting than Orchard Park, New York with Josh Allen playing host. While the Bills led for most of the game, Mahomes kept it close and left with his first road playoff victory. Diggs was held in check - just three catches for 21 yards - , but still, the attention he received opened up the passing game for Dalton Kincaid and Khalil Shakir. Sadly, in his last game for the Bills, Diggs will be remembered most for a critical drop. With 8:23 left in the game, and the Bills trailing 27-24, Allen uncorked a beautiful deep ball to a single-covered Diggs who couldn't complete the catch. Woulda coulda shoulda. So it goes for the Buffalo Bills.

(Sidenote worth remembering: that was the first play of what became a 16-play drive that covered 54 yards over 6:40. Tyler Bass missed a 44-yard field that would have tied the game with 1:47 remaining. The drop certainly had an impact, and who knows what happens if he comes down with that ball, but after the incompletion the Bills had a 32% win probability, according to numberfire. The Bills win probability got all the way up to 64% during that drive.)

While those playoff losses to the Chiefs will always burn bright in my mind, I also have plenty of great Stefon Diggs memories. Seeing him play catch with fans before each and every game. Watching him lay the smack down up close and personal at training camp in 2022. How he twisted Marcus Lattimore in knots on Thanksgiving night in the Superdome against the Saints. The way he brutalized Jalen Ramsey in the 2022 season opener against the Rams.

But my favorite Diggs memory I had to watch on TV. The day after Christmas 2021. Bills at the hated New England Patriots with the division on the line. I happened to be at my brother-in-law's house in Westborough, Massachusetts - prime Patriots country. After slicing through the middle of the Patriots secondary to haul in a touchdown Diggs was caught by the CBS broadcast pointing at nearby Patriots fans and telling them, "You, you, you, you, shut the f*ck up!" Twenty years of Tom Brady lording over the Bills went down the drain in that moment. When I wrote earlier that Stefon Diggs was the heart and soul of the Bills, this is what I meant. Diggs always had his finger on the pulse of Bills Mafia and knew what it meant to play for our beloved franchise.

In the end, it was a, let's say, complicated four years between Stefon Diggs and the Buffalo Bills. His stellar on-field play, contributions to the community, interactions with Bills Mafia, and funny celebrations far outweigh any controversy. I can't believe he won't retire as a member of the Bills, but I'm already excited when he returns to rev up the crowd as a future Legend of the Game. Cheers to you #14!

WHAT IT ALL MEANS

Inevitably, a lot of the narrative around the Diggs trade shifted immediately to the draft. Surely, the Bills will take a wide receiver in the first round, perhaps Brandon Beane will even move up the board to nab one. I'm not as interested in 'what comes next' just yet, but there are some big picture implications to address.

First and foremost (allow me to capitalize this for emphasis): THE BILLS WINDOW IS NOT CLOSING! I don't even understand where the 'window narrative' originated. I understand the flexibility and power afforded to NFL front offices when they land franchise-caliber quarterbacks via the draft. I have long been a proponent of foregoing extensions for non-MVP caliber quarterbacks in the name of building around a rookie. I am also keenly aware of the downstream effects Allen's extension has had on this offseason. Diggs being traded to Houston, with its rookie wage scale quarterback, C.J Stroud, while the Bills cut several 2023 veteran contributors drives this point home.

While the Diggs trade and the cuts of proven performers such as Mitch Morse, Jordan Poyer, and Tre'Davious White certainly represent a pivot point for the franchise, they hardly signal the end of the Bills' ability to compete for a Super Bowl championship. The Bills still have two of the most important elements of every successful NFL team: a franchise quarterback and alignment from ownership to the front office to the head coach. The Bills are in the Beane-McDermott-Allen era of contention. Not the Diggs-Morse-Poyer-White era of contention. The Bills front office need only look to Kansas City for inspiration. Patrick Mahomes may occupy his own tier of quarterback performance, but the formula of alignment and moving pieces around the star quarterback has catapulted the Chiefs to back-to-back Super Bowl wins. This recent run of success was triggered by the trade of veteran wide receiver Tyreek Hill just weeks before Diggs signed his extension with the Bills.

The lesson? Different doesn't automatically equate to bad.

At this moment in time it appears the Bills have taken a step back for the 2024 season. Combined with improvements by the Jets, Dolphins, and Patriots, the road to a division title could be tough this season.

As Brandon Beane said in his post-trade press conference, "I mean, are we better today? Probably not. But it's a work in progress, and we're going to continue to work on that." He added, "This organization and our fanbase needs to trust that we are going to trot out a damn good team come September."

Only time will tell if the metaphorical window has indeed closed on the Bills Super Bowl contention, but I think it's irresponsible to make such declarations at the moment.

As for Houston, kudos to Nick Caserio and the Texans front office for doing exactly what you are supposed to do when you find a franchise quarterback. Just as the Bills will attempt to mimic the Chiefs in pivoting to building a contender around a massive quarterback contract extension, the Texans have begun to emulate the Bills roster construction techniques around a rookie scale quarterback. The landmark moment for Brandon Beane was his March 2020 trade for... you guessed it... Stefon Diggs.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to start browsing toddler-sized Buffalo Bills jerseys. Go Bills!