The Buffalo Bills are going all-in to get a No. 1 wideout for Josh Allen to throw to.
Buffalo has reportedly acquired wide receiver Stefon Diggs for the Minnesota Vikings, and they gave up a haul to do so. The Bills are sending a first-round pick (22nd overall), a fifth-round pick, a sixth-round pick, and a 2021 fourth-round pick to the Vikings in exchange for Diggs and a seventh-round pick.
Compensation update: Bills are trading a 1st-round pick, a 5th-round pick, a 6th-round pick and a 2021 4th-round pick for Vikings WR Stefon Diggs and a 2020 7th-round pick, source tells ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 17, 2020
That price makes the Houston Texans’ (Bill O’Brien’s) trade of DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals look even more pathetic.
It’s a ton for the Bills to give up, but it makes plenty of sense in their current situation. Buffalo is a very good overall team that went 10-6 in 2019, and they have a chance to become the team to beat in the AFC East with the Tom Brady era potentially over (or at least on the decline) in New England. But they need more firepower in the passing game, and Diggs will certainly help provide that.
Diggs, 26, has been highly productive in all five of his NFL seasons. He has great skills as both a chain-mover and field-stretcher, as his 2018 and 2019 seasons show. In 2018, Diggs had 102 receptions for 1,021 yards and nine touchdowns. And in 2019, his reception total was much lower at 62, but he had career-high in receiving yards with 1,130 because of an elite yards-per-reception number at 17.9.
Diggs has game-changing ability, and gives Allen a needed weapon that could go a long way to helping the quarterback “make the leap” in year three.
Ya Digg?
— Josh Allen (@JoshAllenQB) March 17, 2020
As for the Vikings, they could easily afford to do this deal because they already have a No. 1 wide receiver in Adam Thielen. They have to be thrilled with the draft capital haul they were able to get back for Diggs, especially after how little the Texans got back for Hopkins earlier in the day.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.