Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott told reporters that receiver Stefon Diggs was not going to be at the team’s opening minicamp practice on Tuesday.
A few hours later, Diggs’ trainer, Myron Flowers, told FOX Sports that the receiver had flown to Buffalo and reported for minicamp with the intention of attending and practicing.
The team told reporters that Diggs did, indeed, show up. He did his physical on Monday. But he left the facility before practice on Tuesday.
So … um, what’s going on?
“Stef is not here,” McDermott said on Tuesday before practice.
How concerned are you about that?
“Very concerned,” he said.
Any more info?
“Right now, I’m not going to get into that anymore,” McDermott said.
He later added: “When players miss — in particular a player of Stef’s caliber — you’d love to have those players here.”
After practice, quarterback Josh Allen fielded a question about Diggs’ absence.
“Internally we’re working on some things not football related. I f—— love him. He’s a brother of mine,” Allen said. “This does not work — what we’re doing here — without him. We wish he was in here today. … I’ve got his back no matter what. I’ve got no doubts that we will figure out what’s going on.”
Allen added: “There were some things that could have gone better last year and didn’t. I think we’re just, as an organization, maybe not communicating the right way.”
There has been no word from Diggs.
On Tuesday, Diggs reposted photos on Instagram from his workouts with Flowers. The photos were from a session they did last week, but they were working out as recently as Sunday. Diggs has been busy working this offseason — even if he hasn’t gotten on the field with his team. He has a facility at his home in Maryland where he and Flowers work out regularly.
Diggs deleted his Bills photos from his Instagram account in March. In April, he tweeted: “Comeeeeee anddddd rescue me.”
These social media posts followed a dramatic end to the postseason. The receiver left the locker room and the Bills’ stadium before some of the coaches could get down to speak with the player, per The Athletic.
“I don’t know that he’s upset with the coaches. I mean there’s a lot of frustration that goes with losing a game [in the postseason],” Flowers said.
Flowers said what would be best is to have Diggs speak with McDermott and GM Brandon Beane. Diggs is focused on winning a Super Bowl and feels the organization took a step back last year, per Flowers.
“Because of the level of frustration and not knowing, I think it’d be good that he’s there and they open up a conversation on what the plan is. ‘What did you guys find after evaluating last season to figure out what we need to do? What do I need to do?’” Flowers said.
During Buffalo’s 27-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round, Diggs had 10 targets for four catches and 35 yards. At the end of the game, he appeared frustrated with Allen on the sideline.
Flowers said that Allen promised Diggs the ball in the huddle in the red zone and that Diggs felt like Allen missed him on multiple plays when he was open. That’s what Diggs was expressing to Allen.
“I really wish that people would not take that gesture when he was on his sideline and make something that they didn’t even know about. … Why would he upstage Josh Allen?” Flowers said. “The sideline gesture is more so a hand opening to say, ‘Hey, I thought we talked about what we were going to do. What happened? What happened? What are we doing?’”
This offseason, Diggs was not present for organized team activities, but Allen has repeatedly said that their relationship is in a good place.
If there was a time for Diggs to reverse the course of the tense situation, this minicamp would have been the perfect time. He could have put aside the drama — both in person and on social media. But now, we’re seeing the 2022 drama officially spill into 2023. Diggs could incur fines for every day he misses mandatory minicamp. That amount escalates from $16,459 the first day to $32,920 the second day and $49,374 on the third day. If he skips the whole thing, that’s $99,000 — which, frankly, he can afford given that he has earned $83 million in his career.
The contract that richly rewards Diggs is why the team should be most concerned. The Bills just re-signed him to a new deal (four years and $96 million) in 2022. This offseason, they paid him $18 million in an option bonus. It’s hard to imagine he feels he’s underpaid, given the newness of his contract that ties him for fifth in average annual value.
All evidence points to his general unhappiness with the organization.
The Bills would clear cap space by moving Diggs — $500,000 with a trade, $1.5 million with a release. But they’d have to carry dead cap space for his departure and they’d lose one of their best players. So not only would they lose him, but they wouldn’t have any financial way of immediately replacing him.
So is it possible they trade him? Yes. But they just gave him $18 million. They’d have to stomach paying him that for nothing. And then his absence would be an absolutely brutal blow to their Super Bowl hopes.
So the Bills should, indeed, be alarmed. They definitely don’t want to trade Diggs or cut him. But they can’t seem to make him happy. All they can hope is that he comes around during the three-day minicamp — or even by training camp. If he’s upset with the Bills, maybe they’ll be able to appease — or settle — his grievances to get him back on the practice field.
Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.
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