Stefon Diggs clearly needed a change. Despite four very successful years with the Buffalo Bills, the veteran quarterback recently shared that his struggles both on the field during his final year in Buffalo led to an eventual break with the franchise becoming inevitable.
“Last year, I was in the worst mental space I’ve been in since I’ve been in the league,” Diggs recently said in an interview with GQ Sports. “If I’m not in a good space, obviously that’s not the best for me. So that’s when things had to shake out.”
The struggles of Diggs were correlated with what happened on the field during his final weeks with the Bills. After a hot start to the season (he went over 100 receiving yards in five of the first six games of the Bills), Diggs had only two games during the final 11 weeks where he eclipsed 80 yards.
The finals were no different. Diggs had just 52 yards receiving (despite being targeted nine times) in Buffalo’s wild-card win over Pittsburgh. He had three catches for a scant 21 yards in the following week’s upset loss to Kansas City in the divisional round.
While every receiver experiences similar strains, it was apparently the straw that broke the back for Diggs, who endured three heartbreaking playoff losses before last year’s loss to the Chiefs.
“The games looked a lot different,” Diggs said of the final 13 weeks of his 2023 season. “You can blame me. I don’t mind blaming myself. I’ve got big-ass shoulders. But be careful, be careful be very careful. Watch the game. Of course there’s a lot of plays that I want back. But there’s a lot of things that haven’t gone 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. eight games I about the last 10. What changed was I only paid attention to what really happened and not how it happened, for the last 10 games, I forgot. Do you play football?”
Instead of dwelling on the past, Diggs is embracing his new opportunity with the up-and-coming Texans, led by second-year quarterback CJ Stroud. Diggs, who is five receiving yards away from 10,000 for his career, also has his sights set on 14,000 career receiving yards, which in his mind would give him a strong case for future Hall of Fame enshrinement.
“I’m paying close attention,” Diggs said of his Hall of Fame quest. “This shit ain’t no game to me.”
The Bills, meanwhile, are hoping rookie Keon Coleman and the rest of their receiving corps can make up for Diggs’ absence. Josh Allen, the Bills’ Pro Bowl quarterback, elevated his status as a team leader this offseason.
“He stuck his head in the tight end room a few times, ‘What are you all seeing here?'” tight end Dawson Knox recently told ESPN. “And then also, he also practices a lot of extra work. It looks like he just called as soon as he steps out to the second he comes out after everyone else has left.”
