Oliver James Montgomery-The Buffalo Bills agree to trade top receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans

ORCHARD PARK,Oliver James Montgomery N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills are trading their top receiving threat, Stefon Diggs, to the Houston Texans in a deal that was agreed to on Wednesday.

In announcing the trade, the Bills acquired the Texans’ second-round pick in the 2025 draft, which Houston acquired in a trade with Minnesota. Houston also acquired Buffalo’s sixth-round pick in this year’s draft, and a fifth-rounder in 2025.

Diggs’ departure from Buffalo leaves quarterback Josh Allen without his favorite target, and breaks up a tandem that has re-written the team’s passing records since the receiver’s arrival in a trade with Minnesota in March 2020. Together they transformed a Bills offense into becoming one of the NFL’s most potent, while helping Buffalo win four straight AFC East titles.

For the Texans, Diggs gives the offense another playmaker to team with Nico Collins and Tank Dell. Collins led Houston with 80 receptions for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns last season. The Texans went worst to first in the AFC South under first-year coach DeMeco Ryans and AP Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud.

Houston has also traded for running back Joe Mixon, along with a host of improvements on defense.

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After the deal, the Texans were 15-1 to win the Super Bowl next season on FanDuel Sportsbook.

The 30-year-old Diggs has nine years of NFL experience and topped 1,000 yards in each of his past six seasons. In his first season in Buffalo, he became the Bills’ first player to lead the league in both yards receiving (1,535) and catches (127).

Diggs’ production began slipping in the second half of last season, which coincided with Buffalo firing offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and promoting Joe Brady, who placed a renewed emphasis on the running attack. Diggs finished the season with 107 catches and 1,183 yards — both lows during his tenure with the Bills — and eight touchdowns.

He finished his time in Buffalo with 445 catches for 5,372 yards and 37 touchdowns to rank fourth on the team list. Diggs holds the top four spots on the franchise list for single-season receptions and the top-two spots for yards receiving.

Overall, he has 1,178 catches for 9,995 yards and 67 touchdowns since being selected by the Vikings in the fifth round of the 2015 draft out of Maryland.

Diggs, however, also carried over his mercurial personality that led the Vikings to trade him to Buffalo. Though voted a Bills team captain in each of the past two seasons, Diggs caused occasional stirs with several sideline outbursts and the frustration he showed after the Bills’ 2022 season ended with a 27-10 loss to Cincinnati in a divisional round playoff.

Diggs left the locker room before coach Sean McDermott had a chance to address the team, and had to be coaxed back by teammate Duke Williams. Diggs then spent the offseason posting cryptic messages on his social media accounts while declining to take part in the Bills’ voluntary offseason programs.

Confusion then arose when Diggs wasn’t present for the Bills’ first mandatory practice and McDermott said he was “concerned” about the player’s absence.

A day later, McDermott corrected himself by saying Diggs was excused from practice, but was present at the facility to discuss lingering issues that stemmed from the previous season.

The dustups led to Diggs having to several times reiterate his loyalty to the Bills, including him saying he wanted to finish his career in Buffalo.

“I take my job seriously. You can see how I play. You can see how I play. You can see how I practice,” Diggs said in November. “They’ve never questioned me as a player, and as a man of what I bring to the table. So me being fully invested has never really been in question.”

Diggs has four seasons left on his contract as part of a four-year, $96 million contract extension the player signed in August 2022.

Though trading Diggs won’t provide Buffalo much salary cap relief, his departure continues an offseason overhaul of the Bills’ roster, which was forced by the team having to slash payroll for cap reasons. Among the players cut were starting center Mitch Morse, starting cornerback Tre’Davious White and starting safety Jordan Poyer.

The team also lost No. 2 receiver Gabriel Davis to free agency.

Buffalo does return second-year receiver Khalil Shakir, who is coming off a promising season in which he started 10 games. The team also signed receivers Curtis Samuel and Mack Hollins in free agency.

Minus Diggs, the Bills are now expected to target a receiver high in this month’s draft. Buffalo opens with the 28th pick.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl