ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Bills quarterback Josh Allen declined to push the panic button while explaining how unresolved issues stemming from last season led receiver Stefon Diggs to show his displeasure by skipping the team’s start of mandatory practices on Tuesday.
Without going into full detail into what exactly is eating at Diggs, Allen listed getting the team’s top receiving threat more involved in the offense and having more game-planning input as among the player’s concerns.
The quarterback then placed the onus on himself to do better in what will be an ongoing attempt to get Diggs back in the fold — and the sooner the better for the Bills.
“This does not work what we’re doing here without him,” Allen said following practice.
“I’ve got his back no matter what and I’ve got no doubt that we will figure out what’s going on. I love him. I can’t stress that enough,” he added, emphasizing his love for Diggs by using a profanity. “I think that there are some things that could have gone better last year and didn’t. I think as an organization, maybe not communicating the right way with everything.”
Allen said Diggs wants to remain in Buffalo, and was confident the dispute will be resolved.
“He's a fiery competitor. At the end of the day, he wants to win, this team wants to win, and make no mistake, he's a Buffalo Bill. We're going to work this out," Allen said. “He doesn’t want this to be a distraction.”
Distraction or not, Diggs’ offseason long absence — he also skipped the team’s voluntary spring workouts and practices — raises more questions than answers. The dispute also exposing a break in what had previously been the Bills tightly knit culture and the close friendship the receiver had built with Allen over their previous three seasons.
The disconnect went even further before practice began when coach Sean McDermott said he was “very concerned” in announcing Diggs would not be participating. What McDermott left out, and later clarified by the team, was Diggs being at the Bills facility on Monday and Tuesday morning before saying he left before practice began.
Diggs’ agent Adisa Bakari, in a message sent to The Associated Press, disputed the timing of Diggs’ departure by saying that’s “not completely accurate,” by suggesting his client was still at the team facility when practice began.
In a message sent to ESPN, Bakari said Diggs spent the past two days meeting with McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane, and “will be there for the entirety of camp.”
The development comes as a surprise after Beane said last week he expected all 90 players — including Diggs — to be in attendance this week.
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. The two sides agreed to restructure the contract this spring in allowing the Bills to free up salary cap space.
The way the contract was restructured would make it very difficult for the Bills to trade or cut Diggs because of how it would affect their payroll.
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 not commented publicly regarding his reasons for staying away, but has posted various notes on social media over the past few months.
In March, Diggs briefly unfollowed the Bills on Twitter, though the team is once again listed among the 593 accounts he follows, a list that includes many of his teammates.
Diggs 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.
A day later, Diggs avoided reporters and instead shared his disappointment by posting three messages on his Twitter account.
He opened with, “Want me to be okay with losing? Nah,” and followed it up by writing, “Want me to be okay with our level of play when it’s not up to the standard? Nah.” Diggs wrote.
Allen blamed reporters for blowing Diggs' absence out of proportion.
“We're not playing a game this week. We got a lot of time left,” Allen said.
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