Stefon Diggs says last season with Bills was ‘the worst mental space’ of his career

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs opened up about his final year with the Buffalo Bills in a recent interview with GQ.

Kyle Silagyi | Sep 3, 2024

Jamie Germano/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

In this story:

Buffalo Bills | News, Scores, Schedules & Standings

The general football world was shocked on the morning of April 3 when the Buffalo Bills shipped perennial Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans in exchange for a premium pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, parting ways with the player who has been the centerpiece of their aerial attack for the past four seasons for what amounts to a shot at the dartboard.

The man himself wasn’t shocked at the news, however. After a 2023 season in which he posted his lowest yardage total as a Bill and was all but phased out of the offense as the season progressed, the veteran wideout saw the writing on the wall.

“We knew where things were going—I did, at least,” Diggs told Clay Skipper in a recent interview for GQ. “The outside world had so much speculation. I knew, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year to the offseason, exactly what was going on. Not too much confusion on my end.”

The receiver’s lack of surprise at the trade didn’t make the transaction any less momentous. Though coming off a comparatively down year, a down year for Diggs is still an elite season; he finished 13th in the league in receiving yards, reeling in 107 passes for 1,183 yards and eight touchdowns. He still very much figured to be a critical piece of Buffalo’s offense in the immediate future, with this idea combining with his $31 million dead cap hit if the team were to move him to all but assure the 30-year-old’s presence at One Bills Drive through at least the 2024 season.

But the Bills moved him anyway, taking their financial medicine now in a move that general manager Brandon Beane described as “best for [the team].” It was a decision that neither shocked—nor necessarily rattled—Diggs, as he told Skipper that he was unhappy down the stretch of the 2023 campaign.

“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.

“None of those teams [Minnesota or Buffalo] wanted to get rid of me. Things had to shake because I kind of wanted them to shake.”

Tina MacIntyre-Yee /Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

Diggs’ unhappiness was apparent to anyone who tuned into Buffalo’s final games of the 2023 season, as the receiver—who has oft-voiced his desire for a high target volume in the past—was essentially worked out of the team’s offense after Joe Brady took over as interim offensive coordinator midway through the season. From Weeks 1–10, Diggs was targeted 102 times and tallied 868 yards and seven scores; from Week 11 (Brady’s ascension) onwards, he was targeted just 58 times, recording 315 yards and one touchdown.

Though he insisted on taking the blame, Diggs was not all that subtle in attributing his dip in production to the implementation of Brady’s philosophy.

“The games looked a lot different,” he says. “You can blame me. I don’t mind blaming me. I got big-a** 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 f****** play football?”

There may be credence to Diggs’ thoughts, as Brady’s general offensive strategy is not one that necessarily benefits an alpha, target-eating receiver; the now full-time coordinator has described his philosophy as an ‘everyone eats’ approach, a cohesive, self-complementary attack that allows its quarterback to disperse the ball evenly amongst his weapons as opposed to funneling the offense through one target. It makes sense that Diggs—who averaged roughly 160 targets per year throughout his time in Orchard Park—wasn’t overly fond of this approach.

The Bills revamped their receiving corps after the departure of Diggs, bringing in overlooked veterans like Curtis Samuel and Mack Hollins through free agency before selecting big-bodied pass-catcher Keon Coleman in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. No player figures to be in for a Diggs-like target share, but there’s enough talent throughout the unit to breed continued aerial success.

And even Diggs himself may not be in for a ‘Diggs-like target share’ in Houston, as he joins a stacked Texans receiving corps headlined by Nico Collins and Tank Dell, who both broke out last season while playing with reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud. Now removed from Brady and what he described as a poor situation, Diggs will look to bounce back after a comparatively poor year; Buffalo, meanwhile, will look to replace his production by committee.

— Enjoy free coverage of the Bills from Buffalo Bills on SI —