What the Stefon Diggs trade means for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills

If you were a Buffalo Bills fan who went to sleep Monday night worried the team didn’t make any flashy signings at the beginning of free agency, waking up Tuesday might hit you like a ton of bricks. Late Monday night the Bills swapped first-, fifth-, and sixth-round picks this year plus another fourth-round pick next year for Stefon Diggs and a seventh-round pick this year. The team went into the offseason knowing they needed to get better in terms of receiving threats and have addressed it in a big way by getting Diggs.

So what does this say about Josh Allen? This signifies that general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott are committed to making sure Allen has every chance to be successful in 2020 and beyond. Many watched the Bills’ playoff game against the Houston Texans and wondered how much different the game would have been if they had just a little bit more help at wide receiver. Not to take anything away from how productive John Brown and Cole Beasley were for them last year—it just always felt as though something was missing.

Diggs is what was missing. A true number-one playmaker at receiver—something the Bills haven’t really had since maybe Eric Moulds was catching passes. He brings an explosive element to the Bills’ offense that was missing last year. This move also can help the two receivers mentioned earlier in Brown and Beasley. With Diggs possibly getting most of the attention from opposing defenses, Brown and Beasley will get a lot more single coverage, which can make their value to this team even greater.

Diggs gives the Bills maybe the best collective offensive skill weapons in the AFC East and makes them a favorite to win the division for the first time since 1995—especially with the New England Patriots apparently missing out on Diggs and Tom Brady announcing that he won’t return to Foxborough.

Previous coverage:

• Bills trade first-round pick for WR Stefon Diggs
• How the trade for Diggs came together
• Q&A: Bills add Stefon Diggs as part of new agreements
• Initial reaction to Stefon Diggs trade from Nick & Nolan
• Vikings fans react to Stefon Diggs trade
• What does the trade mean for Josh Allen?
• Contract details for Stefon Diggs
• All-22 Highlights showing Stefon Diggs’s skill set
• Bills, Vikings may have coronavirus contingencies built into trade