Bills’ Diggs clears the air: ‘Only focus is winning’

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Over the past couple of months, there has been no shortage of things said about Stefon Diggs, from speculation on his unhappiness to teammates and coaches being asked about his participation or lack thereof in voluntary and mandatory workouts.

But as the Buffalo Bills kicked off training camp Wednesday, the wide receiver sat down for his first news conference since the 2022 regular season and cleared the air. Over 20-plus minutes, Diggs called the issues and conversations that led to his absence from one mandatory minicamp practice last month a “family matter” and said it was all “water under the bridge.”

“I’ve been in the league going on my ninth year here right now. I’ve got more football behind me than I do in front of me. My main focus and my only focus is winning. Super Bowls. I mean everybody says they want a Super Bowl, but we’ve had legitimate chances at this thing,” Diggs said. “… We’ve had everything that we needed. As far as us not getting over the hump, I feel like it’s always asked for or cause for a conversation. And I always wanted to have a conversation. And we have an open-door policy. Coach [Sean McDermott] will tell you he has an open-door policy. And I’ve had those conversations.

“I try to keep a lot of things in-house. But regarding last year, obviously, the way we lost [in the playoffs to the Cincinnati Bengals] was just terrible in any regard. You don’t want to lose any game. But we’ve lost for a couple of years at this point. We’ve been trying to get over the hump. And obviously it’s cause for a lot of frustration. But all in all, as far as with that, I was here, but me and [McDermott] did have a conversation.”

Diggs, who was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice, said he feels as if he and McDermott are on the same page moving forward. McDermott said the same earlier Wednesday, putting it as “we’re in a good spot.”

The Bills finished the 2022 season with the worst offensive output of the year by a significant margin, scoring only 10 points against the Bengals at home. The offense was up and down in the second half of the season overall, appearing inconsistent at times. Diggs’ production declined in the second half of 2022 after he had started the year on pace for his best career season statistically, with 72 receptions on 98 targets for 985 yards and seven touchdowns in the first nine games. In the nine games that followed, including the postseason, Diggs caught 47 receptions on 74 targets and four touchdowns.

In terms of Diggs’ frustrations and what he discussed with McDermott and the organization this offseason, he said he was not unhappy with his role in the offense or with his number of targets, specifically pointing to having 100-plus every year in Buffalo. Since joining the Bills, Diggs has had 150-plus targets each season, while during his five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, he had only one such season (2018).

“For me to just want more say in the offense is crazy because I play receiver. I don’t care what play is called. I can’t get up there and say call it. It’s a lot of outlandish, obvious things that people were throwing out there or people were saying as far as my role,” Diggs said. “… As a player, who I am and what I am has always been represented, and what I do on a consistent basis, how hard I work. You can see it. And my teammates speak highly about me in that regard, especially considering I’ve been a captain ever since I got here. As far as me wanting to have say-so on the playcalls, that is insane. I couldn’t call a play to save my life.”

Diggs did cite some frustrations from understanding that the team has a window to win now from his experience seeing that window close during his time with the Vikings and wanting to take that next step forward and reach the Super Bowl, which he has never played in. He disagreed, however, with the claim that history was repeating itself in terms of an unfounded outside perception that Diggs was unhappy in Buffalo and could try to be traded elsewhere.

“I’ve been in the league going on my ninth year here right now. I’ve got more football behind me than I do in front of me. My main focus and my only focus is winning. Super Bowls. I mean everybody says they want a Super Bowl, but we’ve had legitimate chances at this thing.”

Stefon Diggs

“Forcing my way out of anywhere is not my goal. I don’t feel like I have to at this point. I feel like I’m in a great space, a great place, I’m loved, and I’m appreciated,” Diggs said. “At the end of the day, that’s all I want. That’s all anybody would want in any job that you do.”

Last month, quarterback Josh Allen described some of the conversations with Diggs as related to “teamwork” and said that there are things Allen could do better to help in terms of communication. The wide receiver said that he and Allen “never did not get along. That’s still been my guy. That’s always going to be my guy. So yeah, we’re fine,” but did address what he thought Allen might be referring to in terms of issues related to teamwork.

“As we’re out there trying to make things shake, getting on the same page consistently in those pivotal moments, in those moments where we’re trying to make things happen, ’cause last year we had like a real feast-or-famine kind of time when we spent in the red zone, where we weren’t clicking on all cylinders,” Diggs said. “Like we would have an amazing touchdown and then we’ll have, like, a miscue, and I take a lot of credit for that, just as far as like, I mean, what could I do better? How much more time could I be putting in?”

The Bills were ninth in red zone touchdown percentage last season (60.3%) and improved in that area over the course of the season, going from 53.6% in the first eight games to 66.7% in the last eight. The two-time Bills captain said his confidence level in second-year offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey is “high.”

When Diggs signed a four-year contract extension with Buffalo in 2022 (linking him to the team through 2027), he said he wanted to retire a Bill. On Wednesday, he reiterated that, saying he “100%” still wants to retire with the team.

The 2022 season for the Bills included unique challenges on and off the field with general manager Brandon Beane on Wednesday describing the season as an “anomaly” and saying he has “never seen so much happen to one team, one city, everything.”

Included in that was safety Damar Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest during the team’s Jan. 2 regular-season game against the Bengals, something that had an impact on the team, including Diggs, who rushed to the hospital to be with Hamlin that night and was one of two Bills teammates to attend Hamlin’s charity events this offseason in Pittsburgh, Hamlin’s hometown.

“We had something that’s so traumatic happen during the season, and people let it just roll off their back at this point. But no, we were there, and it was real,” Diggs said. “And so, having an appreciation for the sport and everything that happened to that point. It was a Cinderella story that didn’t happen. We had some things happen — we were going to the Super Bowl, and we got all the motivation, and it didn’t happen. Being frustrated is real. Having things like that happen and you want the best for your team, and you want to be in the Super Bowl, and you want to make that run. It’s human to be frustrated at the end of the day. I got frustrated, but after it was done, it was done. Back to the drawing board.”