ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Stefon Diggs was back on the field practicing on Wednesday, and Bills coach Sean McDermott said whatever lingering issues from last season that raised concern and confusion over the absence of Buffalo’s top receiver a day earlier have been resolved.
To begin with, McDermott said Diggs didn’t skip the team’s mandatory session on Tuesday, but was in fact excused. As for the issues that led to Diggs’ concerns in questioning his role in the offense, the coach said the team and the receiver are “in a real good spot.”
McDermott made an unscheduled appearance with reporters after practice to address questions raised regarding Diggs’ status, by clarifying and expanding on the limited comments he made in helping create the stir a day earlier when saying he was “very concerned” with the receiver leaving the team’s facility and missing a mandatory practice.
In laying out a timeline, McDermott said he and team officials spent Monday and Tuesday having conversations with Diggs to address the receiver’s concerns. The team and player then agreed to take a break from talks, with McDermott saying he excused Diggs from practicing and then picked up the conversations later in the day.
“Sometimes you’ve got to have conversations, you need communication and I appreciate Stef being willing to communicate,” McDermott said. “And you guys need to understand, Stef’s a valuable member of this football team. He’s one of our captains and a leader. ... And I love him.”
Though Diggs has yet to address reporters or share his concerns publicly, he was a welcome sight wearing his No. 14 white practice jersey and shorts in making his offseason practice debut. Diggs previously skipped the team’s previous voluntary workout sessions, which opened in mid-April.
Diggs was limited to participating in only the stretching and individual portions of practice, while watching team sessions from the sideline, some of them alongside offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. During a stretching session, Diggs reached over and shook hands with quarterback Josh Allen.
McDermott said Diggs’ limited practice time was by design in “ramping him up” toward the start of training camp. The Bills are scheduled to hold a third and final mandatory practice on Thursday before reporting to camp in suburban Rochester late next month.
While McDermott didn’t divulge the details of his conversations with Diggs, Allen shed light on the issues a day earlier. The quarterback said Diggs’ concerns are unresolved issues stemming from last season, which include getting the receiver more involved in the offense and having more game-planning input as among the player’s concerns.
“I think that there are some things that could have gone better last year and didn’t," Allen said. "I think as an organization, maybe not communicating the right way with everything.”
Diggs is entering his fourth season in Buffalo, and last summer was rewarded with a four-year, $96 million contract that kicks in this season.
Since being acquired in a trade with Minnesota in March 2020, the 29-year-old has been one of the NFL’s most productive receivers by combining for 365 catches for 4,189 yards and 29 touchdowns — one fewer than he had in Minnesota — in his three seasons in Buffalo.
Diggs’ production hit a lull in the latter portion of last season, when he went through a three-game stretch in which he had 10 catches for 123 yards and no touchdowns. Otherwise, his 108 catches and 1,429 yards ranked second on the single-season Bills list, and he matched a team record with 11 touchdowns receiving.
Diggs has posted various notes on social media hinting at his unhappiness over the past few months. He was particularly upset over how the Bills season ended with a dud in a 27-10 loss to Cincinnati in the divisional round of the playoffs in January.
It was an outing in which Diggs was caught by TV cameras making animated raised-arm gestures at Allen on the sideline.
His frustrations spilled over afterward, when he immediately bolted from the locker room before McDermott addressed the team, leading to teammate Isaiah McKenzie chasing down Diggs and convincing him to return.
Bills center Mitch Morse was unaware of the issues bothering Diggs, while pleased — and not surprised — the two sides talked it out.
“They're doing the thing that they're supposed to do, which is to have possibly uncomfortable conversations, have some candidness, which can be hard at times, but in the end you appreciate it,” Morse said. “I want Stef and everyone to be the happiest version of themselves. He is one of the best teammates I've been around.”
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