PITTSFORD, N.Y. — The biggest story, by far, as the Buffalo Bills opened training camp at St. John Fisher University Wednesday was Stefon Diggs speaking with the media for the first time since last January’s playoff loss against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The receiver’s frustration with that game spilled over into last month’s mandatory minicamp when an airing of his grievances led to his missing the first of the two days of practice at the team’s facility. Diggs was on the field the next day, but questions have lingered about what took place behind closed doors and his frame of mind.
Is he unhappy with Josh Allen, with whom he demonstrated the bulk of his agitation during the Bengals’ game? Is he unhappy with Sean McDermott, with whom he engaged in a conversation that resulted in his exiting the building at One Bills Drive on the morning of the first minicamp workout? Does he still want to follow through with his spoken goal of retiring as a Bill?
Diggs shed some light on those matters during Wednesday’s news conference.
Here are my takeaways:
Setting the team agenda for the season
It isn’t an overstatement to say Diggs had taken a lead role in setting the course for the 2023 Bills.
The conversation isn’t so much about how many games they’ll win in the regular season. It’s about whether they can stop falling short in the postseason, as they have the past three years.
That, Diggs is explained, is the essence of what brought about his arm-raising fury in the direction of Allen as the quarterback at on the bench between series of the Cincinnati game, his exiting the locker room early afterward, and what took place last month.
“My main focus and my only focus is winning,” Diggs said. “Everybody says they want a Super Bowl, but we’ve had legitimate chances at this thing. We’ve had the team, we’ve had the coaches, we’ve had everything that we’ve needed and as far as us not getting over the hump, I feel like it’s always cause for a conversation. I’ve always wanted to have a conversation and we have an open-door policy. Coach 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 was just terrible in any regard. You don’t want to lose any game, but we’ve lost for a couple of years (in the playoffs) at this point. We’ve been trying to get over the hump and, obviously, it caused a lot of frustration. … Me and (McDermott) did have a conversation and it’s all water under the bridge now.”
McDermott and Allen have said variations of the same.
Diggs compared it with squabbling among family members.
“I attribute it to like family matters … everybody has family matters,” he said. “We had a conversation, all is water under the bridge. Now, we’re back at work. I kind of look at football, it’s a business at the end of the day, but when you go out there and you fight, tooth and nail, and put a lot of sweat equity into this thing, it starts to feel like a family. We had those conversations. Everything that was needed to be said was said and we talked it out as men, everybody involved.”
Have we heard the end of it?
Probably not.
General Manager Brandon Beane said as much Wednesday.
“Stef wants to win,” Beane said. “His bottom line is he wants to win. Yes, he wants to contribute, he knows he’s a talented player. But if we’re struggling, and you know, he feels or something, he’s gonna voice it. That’s who he is. I’m not trying to change that part of it.”
‘Insane’ to think Diggs wants more say
Exactly what was said remains largely unknown. There has been speculation Diggs’ biggest concern is not having enough of a say in the offense. He shot that down.
“Yeah, that is insane,” Diggs said. “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 this!’ It’s a lot of like outlandish obvious things that people are throwing out there or people are saying as far as my role. I’ve been a captain on this team for three years. There’s no question about my role, who I am as a player, and how hard I work. Those things never had question marks in them.”
Josh Allen is still Diggs’ ‘guy’
Diggs did his best to put to rest any notion that he and Allen are feuding.
“Yeah, that’s my guy,” the receiver said. “Like, that’s when I say it’s family matters, me and him have a conversation. If you’ve got kids or you have like siblings like y’all don’t always get along. And me and him never did not get along. That’s still been my guy, that’s always gonna be my guy. So, yeah, we’re fine.”
Allen didn’t exactly paint a picture of things between all warm and fuzzy with Diggs, though he made it clear that whatever flared up in June is behind them.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve talked things through, but we’ve talked,” the quarterback said. “It’s not about that anymore. It’s about moving, you know, towards the season in setting our goals of what we want to do we want to bring a Lombardi Trophy here, come February. So just making sure, again, that everybody in the team is on the same page, striving to have that singular goal. And that’s all it is.”
“It’s the communication piece of it, making sure that we’re on the same page and have a clear understanding of, you know, what’s being called, when it’s being called when I’m looking his way. It’s just usual football talk, I guess. And just making sure that we're staying in a constant line of communication.”
Diggs has every intention of staying put
Diggs is a Bill because he wanted out of Minnesota and ultimately forced the trade that led to his arriving in Buffalo in 2020.
The minicamp situation has sparked talk that he might be inclined to do something similar with the Bills. Diggs mostly shot that down.
“Forcing my way out of anywhere is not my goal,” Diggs said. “And I don’t feel like I have to at this point. I feel like I’m in a great space, I’m in a great place. I’m loved and I’m appreciated. And at the end of the day, that’s all I want. That’s all anybody would want in any job that you do.”
Diggs said he’s sticking by his stated desire to retire a Bill.
“A hundred percent,” he said.
How do the Bills take the next step?
Diggs doesn’t see any magical solution for the Bills to reach the Super Bowl.
“Just continue to grind,” he said. “At this point, we’ve been doing everything that we can, if we’ve got the right pieces. I feel like right now we’re in a great spot, kind of like falling kind of like to that little underdog in the creases kind of role. Like people might be counting us out or putting us in the spot where they might not look at us as good as we might be or could be. But I promise you, this team is damn near working hard.
“Today was the first day to get to where we want to go. We’ve just got to keep grinding. Obviously, we had some bad luck here and there, and things happen. Good luck for the other side, so, hopefully, we get some luck, too.”