04 April 2024 , 05:00
465
0
Stefon Diggs has broken his silence after being traded to the Houston Texans from the Buffalo Bills.
On Wednesday night, the standout receiver took to Instagram to bid a heartfelt farewell to the city of Buffalo, his teammates and the team's fans.
“I can’t begin to express the amount of love and respect I have for the city of Buffalo,” he wrote. “Four of the best years of my life, the city welcomed me with open arms. I’m forever grateful for you all and the @buffalobills organization!
“Something special was built over these years with some very special men, that will always have a place in my heart. Billsmafia, so many great memories created throughout the years. Those games were crazy because of you. Sadly good things come to an end until we meet again.”
READ MORE: NFL's Kansas City Chiefs could move to new city over financial row
READ MORE: Travis Kelce continues love story with Taylor Swift by making declaration
New England Patriots warned Mac Jones is "limited" as quarterback fined again
Brandon Beane, the general manager of the Bills, also spoke about the trade of Diggs, which gave the team a 2025 second-round pick in return. The Bills also sent a 2024 sixth-round pick (No. 189 overall) and a 2025 fifth-round selection to Houston. "These moves are never easy, very hard. Not made overnight," he said.
“Any time you make a move like this — as I said, very difficult — you're doing it, you're trying to win. Sometimes people might not see that. This is by no means the Bills giving up or trying to take a step back or anything like that. Everything we do, we're trying to win. We're going to continue to do that."
After trading away their top wide receiver and Josh Allen's favourite target, Beane acknowledged that the team might not be better off right now because of the trade. Buffalo doesn't have much money for future players and Diggs was going to earn $70 million from his new contract.
"Are we better today? Probably not," he said. "It's a work in progress, and we're going to continue to work on that."
Stefon Diggs was traded for a second-round pick (Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)Beane also said he didn't tell Allen about the trade before it happened, but he did let him know that a big change could come. "I have not talked to [Allen] since the move. He's on the West Coast, so probably woke up to - whenever that move went down, he might have been asleep," Beane explained.
"I'll circle back with him. Josh and I have a pretty regular conversation on things. I think it's important for me to make sure if I think something could happen, to make sure he's not blindsided. Without going into the discussion with Josh the last time we spoke, I did alert him there had been some inquiries and it wasn't 100% off the table."
The Buffalo Bills have a significant void to fill at wide receiver now. Diggs spent four seasons with the Bills, had 445 catches for 5,372 yards and 37 touchdowns during his time in Buffalo. He also led the team in receiving yards each season, with over 1,100 yards in each regular season.
"The years that Stef's been here, he's clearly been our 1. I think we can all agree to that," Bills general manager Brandon Beane said. "I think it's more of a volume, a variety of guys. I'm not standing up here today saying, 'Look, I've got another 1 to walk in the door.' We know we're still working through the cap."