Getty Stefon Diggs #14 of the Buffalo Bills takes the field prior to a game against the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Wild Card playoff game at Highmark Stadium on January 15, 2023.
After all the drama that built up over the postseason and came to a head at the start of mminicamp last week, Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs’ frustration with the team boils down to a simple request — he wants the ball more often.
Insider Ben Volin of the Boston Globe shared insight on the friction that arose between Diggs and the team as the wide receiver missed the first day of mandatory minicamp. In a June 17 story, Volin revealed that Diggs was upset with his role and wanted to play a bigger role in the offense, which could become a bigger issue in the coming season.
Stefon Diggs Wants Bigger Role
Diggs had expressed frustration with the team dating back to the end of last season, when he was seen having an outburst on the sidelines during the team’s playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Diggs later said he was just unhappy with the way the team’s season was ending, but continued to stir speculation with some cryptic tweets that hinted at deeper frustrations.
When Diggs did not take the field with teammates at the start of mandatory minicamp on June 13, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said he was “very concerned” about the situation. But the next day, McDermott backtracked and said that it was an excused absence, and Diggs was back at practice for the next day before the team canceled the third and final day of minicamp.
Though McDermott said the situation had been addressed, Volin wrote that this was a “sanitized” version of the story and that Diggs was still frustrated with his role in the offense.
“Diggs’s frustration is with his role in the offense and his voice in play-calling, per a league source close to the Bills’ locker room,” Volin wrote. “He was visibly agitated at Allen during the 27-10 playoff loss to the Bengals, stormed out of the locker room almost immediately after the game, and didn’t attend any voluntary workouts this offseason.”
Stefon Diggs Saw Drop in Production
As Volin noted, Diggs had plenty of opportunities last season and ranked in the top five of the league in targets, catches, yards and touchdowns.
“Since joining the Bills for the 2020 season, Diggs is top six in all of those stats, and his 484 targets rank second behind only Davante Adams,” Volin wrote.
But the Boston Globe reporter noted that Diggs saw a drop in production late in the season and through the playoffs.
“Over the last six games in 2023, including two playoff games, Diggs caught just one touchdown pass and averaged a meager 63 receiving yards per game,” Volin wrote. “In the playoff loss to the Bengals, a listless, blowout defeat at home, Diggs had just four catches for 35 yards.”
Based on some of the team’s offseason moves, Diggs could actually see another dip in production in 2023. The Bills made a number of postseason moves intended to spread out the offense, with general manager Brandon Beane saying they wanted to take pressure off Diggs.
“We were looking for guys to add to our skill positions that can be matchups and whether it’s receiver, tight end, whatever it is, just a guy, another weapon to say, ‘Hey, you can’t double Stef every play,’ ” Beane said. “If you do, we’re expecting this guy to win his one-on-one matchup or Gabe [Davis] to win his one-on-one matchup. Khalil Shakir, we’ve got a lot of hope for him. I thought he really played well down the stretch when he had his opportunity.”
