Just when you thought the first day of the 2020 illegal tampering period was over, the NFL pulled you right back in.
The #Vikings have traded WR Stefon Diggs and a seventh-round pick to the #Bills for a first-round pick, a fifth-round pick, a sixth-round pick and a fourth-round pick in 2021, source said. @JayGlazer first on the trade
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 17, 2020
This is a big haul for a major receiver, especially in the wake of the utter larceny the Cardinals performed on the Texans for DeAndre Hopkins earlier in the day. It also satisfies perhaps the Bills’ biggest need — an alpha receiver to put with John Brown, perhaps the NFL’s most underrated receiver in 2019, and slot man Cole Beasley. Last season, Brown caught 72 passes on 115 targets for 1,060 yards and six touchdowns as Buffalo’s primary receiver. With Diggs now on board, Brown’s route neatness becomes a force multiplier, because covering Diggs as the true No. 1 receiver on every play will be Job 1 for every opposing defense.
Diggs caught 63 passes on 94 targets for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns last season, averaging 17.9 yards per catch. With Adam Thielen as his bookend, Diggs became even more what he had been before — one of the most dominant deep receivers in the league.
This 41-yard touchdown catch in the Vikings’ divisional round loss to the 49ers is an excellent example of how Diggs can demolish a defense. Watch how he turns Richard Sherman, still one of the NFL’s best boundary cornerbacks, around on this play. Sherman thinks he has inside position… and then, he doesn’t.
Because he’s a great deep receiver, Diggs made Kirk Cousins a better deep thrower. Now, it will be Diggs’ job to do the same with Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is still a work in progress with the subtleties of the position. In 2018, Allen completed 58.8% of his passes for 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions, and he imploded in Buffalo’s wild-card loss to the Texans. There, the ostensible deep thrower was muted for just 264 yards on 46 attempts, and he unleashed some howlers in the approximate direction of his own targets.
Patrick DiMarco jumps like Patrick Leonard 😂 pic.twitter.com/8s7jGXVigL
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) January 5, 2020
Obviously, Diggs is going to go up for a contested catch with more dynamism than a fullback on a deep route, but the point remains — with this trade, the Bills have exercised both a great deal of faith in their young quarterback, and they’ve pulled any remaining excuse card when it comes to Allen’s development. With Diggs, Brown, Beasley, receiving back Devin Singletary, and ascending tight end Dawson Knox, the Bills now have one of the best and brightest receiver corps in the NFL. It will be up to Allen to match that luster with his own play.