I figured Stefon Diggs was going to get punted out of Buffalo, it’s been two years in the making with the way he’s been acting (like a fool)...and now with his age, expense, and statistical drop-off – the Bills had to make this move.
The Bills should’ve made this move this time last year. With the Bills coming off that horrid loss to the Bengals where we last saw Diggs ranting and raving up and down the sidelines...and Sean McDermott not disciplining it, rather kissing Diggs’ ass in the 2023 offseason to smooth it over.
The Bills peaked with the same core group the past few years...just short of greatness multiple times. McDermott is now ‘blowing things up’ and rebuilding his team that has a nice remaining core and possessing Josh Allen makes them instant playoff contenders regardless. I think this was a good, overdue NFL move for Buffalo – addition by subtraction.
And in a draft loaded with WR talent, if the Bills somehow snagged Houston’s #42 pick in this deal (unknown exchange as of this writing) – then they’d have the #28, 42, and 60 picks to totally rebuild/restock their WR group with Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir already in-house.
I’m not shocked that Buffalo dumped Diggs. I AM shocked that the Texans were the ones to pick up the trash here.
The last thing that I’d want to add to my young, emerging team is a malcontent, overpaid, overrated (now) WR like Diggs. It feels like the Texans are thinking they’re the AFC favorites to knock off KC, and that the time is NOW, and they are adding toys to take down the champs. They could’ve done other things to go down this road/bolster the offense, rather than to bring in a potential circus act in Stefon Diggs. But maybe ex-player-turned coach DeMeco Ryans will not suffer Diggs/will control him better than Mike Zimmer or Sean McDermott could?
What I do appreciate is – at least the Texans are ‘going for it’ on offense. They are building around C.J. Stroud. My fear was with DeMeco being an ex-defensive player and ex-defensive coordinator, that they’d try to push a run game and deemphasize Stroud...but they gave into it right away last year and adding Diggs and Joe Mixon this year – it’s an effort in the right direction when you possess a nuclear weapon like Stroud. I just wonder if Diggs is going to go off the rails for good a la Antonio Brown, etc., and make this a fancy looking deal on paper that turns out to be a nightmare.
You’d think the last thing the Bills would want to do is give Diggs to another hot AFC contender...but I bet the Bills see this like they are undermining, subverting the rising Texans group...not aiding it.
Fantasy Ramifications...
-- Houston now has a WR situation that the entire league is going to have in 1-2-3 more years...a situation that will cause FF problems...and that’s the problem of having an all-star WR group with no clear top option/everybody is a top option.
It’s FF-great for Stroud...it’s not FF-good for Tank Dell (for 2024)...it’s a virtual FF-killer for Nico Collins 2024 (free agent 2025...and I don’t rule out they trade him now, if a deal presents)...and no real FF-help for Dalton Schultz.
Noah Brown, John Metchie, Xavier Hutchinson make up the best backup WR group in all the NFL! This is not good for any of them for FF.
This is a reminder/forerunner of how several of the 2024 rookie WRs everyone is fawning over – that many of them are going to get dumped into situations that will make their FF near-term future murky at best...buried at worst. A bad situation for a rookie WR could be just going to a bad offense/QB...or an FF ‘bad situation’/landing spot is also going to TOO GOOD of an offense and thus the path to the big targets for the rookie is not clear/available.
-- The Bills suddenly have the opposite problem of Houston...the Bills feel like they have NO top WRs. The Texans have three #1 WRs...the Bills have none, in theory.
Today, all the FF analysis of this deal will be that this is a big bump for Khalil Shakir and maybe some Curtis Samuel love...but you know the Bills aren’t going to stand pat and not add a frontline WR from here. They could draft an ace or two...as this draft has WR high end hope in the top 100 picks...and/or they could trade for a WR to replace Diggs. This might be where Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk winds up.
This trade is an FF-bump for Shakir-C. Samuel...but it is tentative, possibly short-lived.
-- The real winner in all of this, besides C.J. Stroud as the grand winner is...the path is being cleared to allow Dalton Kincaid to be Josh Allen’s BFF throw into the future, as God intended. Kincaid’s next Dynasty rankings for us could be very interesting...they already were.
Our Dynasty and Best Ball rankings will update Friday 4/5...some big shakeups coming off of this and other things.
