Stefon Diggs clearly needed a change. Despite four highly-successful years with the Buffalo Bills, the veteran receiver recently shared that his struggles both on an off the field during his final year in Buffalo led to an eventual breakup 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 start shaking out."
Diggs' struggles were correlated with what was happening on the field during his final weeks with the Bills. After a red hot start to the season (he went over 100 receiving yards in five of the Bills' first six games), Diggs had just two games over the final 11 weeks where he eclipsed 80 yards.
The playoffs 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 stretches, it was apparently the straw that broke the back for Diggs, who endured three heartbreaking playoff losses prior to 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 me. I got big-ass 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----ng play football?"
Instead of lingering on the past, Diggs is embracing his new opportunity with the up-and-coming Texans, led by second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud. Diggs, who is five receiving yards away from 10,000 for his career, is also keeping 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 pay real close attention," Diggs said about his Hall of Fame quest. "This shit is not a game to me."
The Bills, meanwhile, are hoping that rookie Keon Coleman and the rest of their receiving corps can make up for Diggs' absence. Josh Allen, the Bills' Pro Bowl quarterback, has elevated his status as a team leader this offseason.
"He's stuck his head in the tight end room a couple times, 'What do y'all see here?'" tight end Dawson Knox recently told ESPN. "And then also, he's getting a lot of extra work into practice too. Seems like he's just dialed in as soon as he steps out there to the second he comes off after everyone else has left."