Texans acquire Stefon Diggs

…Where it went wrong between Diggs and the Bills is not a question that yields a single answer from more than a dozen team, front office and industry sources ESPN contacted for this story. The player is famously mercurial. The team's level of patience with his personality ebbed and flowed. The offense was headed in a different direction. The ratio of the impact of these three causes on Diggs' exit depends on who's doing the talking.

And now comes a reunion between Diggs and Buffalo (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS) that will likely be professional on the surface. What lies beneath, only the principals can say. Diggs declined comment for this story, as did the Bills.

But to be sure, this divorce did not come out of nowhere.

"Tremendous player," a team source said. "But the offense didn't need him anymore."

Diggs has been described by several sources as well-liked by teammates, sentiments that were apparent from his early days in Buffalo. Whether organizing a Thanksgiving turkey drive in the Buffalo area or playing catch with fans pregame, Diggs made his presence and example felt within the community and the locker room.

…"He's super smart, and if you sugarcoat it with him and are not 100%, he'll see through it," the source said of Diggs' approach. "And he remembers everything you say."

…A separate team source cited the 2022 postseason departure of the team's receivers coach, Chad Hall, as a point of contention. Diggs is close to Hall, whose contract was up after the 2022 season. Jacksonville offered him a promotion from wide receivers coach to passing game coordinator, which he accepted. The Bills replaced him with veteran coach Adam Henry.

…FROM AFAR, A team in the NFC North had seen this script before.

"It all felt very familiar," a high-ranking Vikings source from the Diggs era said.

Coaches and scouts on the Minnesota staff during Diggs' tenure there often refer to the "Diggs experience," a roller coaster of on-field brilliance and off-field irritability that can elicit discomfort within the football building.

…After Minnesota drafted Diggs out of Maryland in 2015 -- one of the notable fifth-round steals in modern NFL history -- the team learned his competitive side could lead to frustration. The Vikings went to the playoffs three times during Diggs' five years with the team, all under head coach (and noted Diggs fan) Mike Zimmer, and never finished with a losing record. But the very thing that made Diggs great -- his belief that getting him the ball would help the team -- was something Minnesota had to manage both on game day and throughout the week.

"He needs to have someone he can talk to, listening to his concerns, work through what was bothering him, recognizing him as a voice," a Vikings source who directly observed Diggs' tenure there said.

Multiple Vikings sources said that while the franchise considered Diggs' desire to maximize his offensive impact to be mostly a positive, the team had to work to ensure it didn't turn toxic within the building. Vikings brass spent significant time talking through issues with Diggs, realizing he just needed to vent sometimes.

Diggs was known to be forceful when he did. And he shared the wide receiver room with another alpha, Adam Thielen, who also wanted the ball.

To give then-quarterback Kirk Cousins peace on the sideline during games, coaches once situated the Vikings receivers apart from the quarterbacks and closer to the defensive benches, an ex-Vikings source said.

"It can be a lot," the source said. "He might throw his helmet. He will wear on your quarterback. But find me a premier receiver that's not a diva. ... And he works incredibly hard. That's why coaches love him."

After five years that included a pair of 1,000-yard seasons, the Diggs-authored "Minneapolis Miracle" but also $200,000 in fines for unexcused absences from practices and meetings, the team and Diggs decided to part ways in what a Vikings-era source described as a mutual decision between player and team. (A separate team source made clear Diggs wanted out.) Minnesota dealt Diggs as part of a package that sent Buffalo's first-round 2020 choice to the Vikings, a pick the team used to draft Justin Jefferson at 22nd overall.

That source did not recall Buffalo asking for advice on how to manage Diggs' personality in the trade process.

"You always have to worry about how he feels," a Bills team source said. "That wears on a locker room."

…Buffalo had "no intention to ship [Diggs] away" originally, a team source said, but inquiries had been rampant even before the turbulent 2023 season, overtures the Bills rebuffed. Executives from several receiver-needy teams confirmed they did not hear from Buffalo this past offseason shopping Diggs -- the Bills were on the hook for Diggs' contract either way; there was no 2024 cap relief available by dealing him.

While team sources were not able to confirm whether Diggs officially requested a trade, they agree Diggs was open to a change in scenery and an eventual trade was a mutual decision.

"If he's not happy somewhere, he's smart enough to maneuver his way out," a source close to Diggs said.

Added a team source: "It's a normal thing for veteran guys at that stage of his career to be attracted to something new. I think there was some attraction [to Houston] for him."

…The belief in league circles is the Texans were committed to getting an established veteran receiver this offseason. They first tried with Keenan Allen, who was traded from the Los Angeles Chargers to the Chicago Bears on March 14. A source close to Allen said the Texans got "very close" to dealing for the receiver.

Once that fell through, the Texans pivoted to Diggs. Word out of the Bills' locker room started to trickle out in mid-March -- in line with those vague Diggs tweets -- that Houston was a possible destination.

Those who know Texans general manager Nick Caserio were not surprised by this. He scours the market for opportunities, a Texans source said, using personnel meetings to discuss players that could be available due to a litany of factors. "I think [Caserio] saw the writing on the wall [with Diggs in Buffalo]," the source said.

…The trade was announced April 3, with the Bills receiving a 2025 second-round pick in exchange for Diggs, a 2024 sixth-round pick (later dealt to the Lions) and a 2025 fifth-round selection. One AFC executive called Buffalo "lucky" to get that kind of value for a 30-year-old receiver, considering the belief among some in the industry that Houston might have been the lone major player for his services at the stage the deal was made.

Would Buffalo have dealt Diggs if it didn't receive an offer as good as Houston's? One team source was not aware of a hard line on hypothetical trade terms, another said it was the right time to move on and believes the parties probably would have found a way to part amicably -- even if it meant Buffalo shopping Diggs more aggressively. It never came to that.

Diggs called his experience in Houston "a breath of fresh air" when he met the media for the first time as a Texan in June.

"You thrive in a space where you're loved," Diggs said. "Thrive in a space of being around those who truly care and truly want to see you win."

It took Diggs little time to leave behind the career-high seven-game touchdown-less streak he brought with him from Buffalo. He caught two touchdown passes from C.J. Stroud in a Week 1 win over the Colts. Through four weeks, Diggs is No. 3 on ESPN's Receiver Scores list, a composite metric that distills a wide receiver's ability to get open, make catches and accrue yards after the catch. The Texans are making Diggs' place in the offense a priority in a way that wasn't happening in his final days in Buffalo.

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