Trade Details

On April 3, 2024, the Buffalo Bills traded all-pro wide receiver Stefon Diggs, a 2024 6^th round pick and a 2025 5^th round pick to the Houston Texans in exchange for a 2025 2^nd round pick.

Background

On March 16, 2020, Stefon Diggs along with a seventh-round pick was traded from the Minnesota Vikings to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for 2020 first-round, 2020 fifth-round, 2020 sixth-round, and 2021 fourth-round draft picks. Diggs was two years into his five-year contract extension worth $72 million to stay in Minnesota through the 2023 season.

Diggs had great success as a member of the Buffalo Bills recording 5,372 receiving yards on 445 receptions, averaging 12.1 yards per reception, and scoring 37 touchdowns. His accomplishments include First-team All-Pro (2020), Second-team All-Pro (2022), 4x Pro Bowl (2020-2023), NFL receptions leader (2020), and NFL receiving yards leader (2020). In PPR fantasy leagues he was a top 10 wide receiver (WR3 2020, WR7 2021, WR4 2022, and WR9 2023). It was all sunshine and rainbows until it wasn’t. On January 22, 2023, the Buffalo Bills suffered a brutal defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals 27-10 at home during the 2023 AFC Divisional round playoff game. In that game, Diggs only recorded 4 receptions for 35 yards and Allen threw for 264 passing yards and an interception, scoring the team’s only touchdown on the ground. As the game was coming to an end, Diggs was seen on the sideline getting animated, waving his hands, and presumably yelling at Josh Allen who had his head down the entire time, not acknowledging the wide receiver.

After speculation of Stefon Diggs not returning as a Buffalo Bill for the 2023 NFL season, he finally showed up after missing the first day of mandatory camp. Head coach Sean McDermott said he was concerned about the wide receiver missing practice but then retracted his words stating that Diggs had already been excused from practice. Right then and there, I knew the 2023 NFL season for the Bills was going to be a disappointment, team-wise and fantasy production-wise.

The beginning of the 2023 NFL regular season was quiet for Diggs but then in week 4, he exploded recording 6 receptions for 120 yards, and scoring 3 touchdowns in the Bills victory over the Miami Dolphins. Let’s think about that for a minute. Diggs recorded three touchdowns in week 4 and one touchdown in week 1. That is half of his touchdowns being scored in the first four games of the season. There were thirteen more games to be played, which unfortunately for Diggs and his fantasy managers, he only scored four more touchdowns during this period. Somehow, he still ended up as the WR9 which was a major dip from his 2022 performance. Fast forward to the end of their playoff run, once again losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, there would be controversy surrounding the wide receiver and his quarterback.

In two crucial plays, I’ll explain both in order of occurrence, the game was decided. With 8:23 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Allen launched a pass down the field where Diggs dropped the ball. When looking at this play from a few different angles, the film shows that Allen threw the pass way too late as Diggs had to stop to see where the ball was. The second observation was an elite receiver like Diggs needs to make this catch no matter what. Later on in the game with 1:58 seconds left in the fourth-quarter, Allen threw a wobbly deep pass intended for Gabriel Davis but was uncatchable by the receiver. While watching this play, you can clearly see Diggs running a drag route over the middle of the field completely uncovered which would’ve converted to a first down with a gain of significant yardage. Unfortunately, Allen didn’t even look Diggs’ way. That was officially the end of the two playing together in Buffalo.

All offseason, Diggs had been sending out cryptic tweets along with his brother Trevon (cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys), signaling Stefon’s displeasure with his quarterback and organization. On Wednesday morning we found out that Diggs is no longer a member of a declining Buffalo Bills team and is now a member of a rising Houston Texans team. During the time of the trade, Diggs was two years into his four-year contract extension worth $96 million that he signed with the Buffalo Bills in April of 2022.

Fantasy Stock

Stefon Diggs

Fantasy Stock:

In my opinion, Stefon Diggs’ fantasy performance rejuvenates in Houston with second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud who won the 2023 NFL Rookie of the Year award. Last season, Diggs scored 273.8 fantasy points in PPR leagues for fantasy managers and claimed the WR9 spot. This year, I expect him to crack the top 5, scoring once again over 300 fantasy points in PPR leagues. He is a first-round draft pick in a 10-person PPR or standard fantasy football leagues.

C.J. Stroud

Fantasy Stock:

Stroud’s performance during the 2023 season was immaculate as he threw for 4,108 passing yards on 319 completions, scoring 23 touchdowns and only throwing 5 interceptions. His fantasy performance matched his numbers as he scored a total of 275.02 points and was ranked as the QB9 to finish the season. I believe Stroud’s numbers will only increase from here as I expect his passing touchdowns to reach over thirty now that Diggs is part of his receiving core. Stroud has the potential to become a top 5 QB in fantasy football leagues this coming year.

Josh Allen

Fantasy Stock:

Last season, Allen finished the season as the QB1 in fantasy football leagues, posting 392.64 points. His numbers were just a little better than C.J. Stroud’s as Allen threw for 4,306 yards, scored 29 passing touchdowns, and rushed for 15 touchdowns. The big difference here is that Allen also threw 18 interceptions, which some fantasy football leagues deduct 2 points for each interception thrown. In my opinion, now that both Gabriel Davis (Jacksonville) and Stefon Diggs (Houston) are gone, Allen’s performance is going to regress a bit as Buffalo does not have a solid WR1. I also do not expect Allen to be a top 10 quarterback in fantasy this season either unless crucial changes occur to the roster.

Final notes

This is another win for second-year head coach DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans as he looks to get his team back to the playoffs in back-to-back years. We as fans also do not have to wait long to see these two teams face each other as the Houston Texans host the Buffalo Bills at NRG Stadium this coming fall. Last note, fantasy team owners should keep an eye out on Diggs’/Stroud’s fantasy draft stock over the course of the offseason. Keeping records of offseason news, training camp performance, and practice mock drafts are a surefire way to make sure you draft either player(s) at the right ADP come draft day.