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But he literally just said he DOES want to be here. So that point is just false. You can twist his words any number of different ways, but that doesn't supercede him literally saying "I hope it doesn't happen" in regards to being traded. Yet you're still trying to falsely manufacture he doesn't want to be here. He fell apart down the stretch in large part due to us having no one else opposite him that took pressure off. Rather than getting him help, you just want to move on? We're really going to ignore 3 and a half years of Superstar production for the last half of a season and call it a day? Ridiculous. KC traded Hill and proceeded to be Elite because they still had Kelce. They had 2 Elite weapons, not just 1. Also an all time Offensive Head Coach and this year in particular, a very solid Defense. He's not going anywhere. He knows it, Josh knows it, Beane knows it. It's not worth even talking about and it makes no sense to hope for it. I don't care how good the College prospects look. Unless that prospect is Marvin Harrison Jr, you shouldn't be hoping to move on from a Superstar WR known commodity like Diggs for the 5th or 6th best WR of 2024.

I interpret as a guy giving an honest answer to the rumors. He didn't say "where there's smoke there's fire" to a question about rumors that he doesn't want to be here. He was replying to the fact that there's a million "rumors" floating around that Beane will trade him. Pontificating "when there's smoke there's fire" when it comes to GM's trading players. The context of both interviews are really clear. He's said that he doesn't make those decisions and he's just focusing on being ready to go to work next season regardless of what's decided. In this interview, he elaborated that he doesn't want to be traded. Which is really the crux of everyone's outrage - implying by his lack of elaboration that it had to have meant he doesn't want to be here. At the absolute most, by saying "where there's smoke there's fire" - he knows that saying something like that will get people talking about him and keep his name and brand on the lips of people in the Offseason. Something he enjoys. Even if you take it as more than that, that would imply that he thinks Beane is thinking about trading him (which I don't think is a reality) and on that note, he said he'd rather that not happen. Nothing to get upset about. Unless you're a person that wants to be upset with him or wants him gone. Then you'll try and make it a bigger deal than it is.

I simply don't understand why you're trying to force a Superstar, one of the best WR's in the NFL off of the team for a lottery ticket that could completely bust or take a while to develop, all the while paying money to do so. On top of what it would cost us, the cost for a team taking his contract on is going to make it impossible to get anything of real value. It's like Davante Adams. Amazing talent, but when a team is taking on that kind of contract, they're either not interested or aren't going to give up much in terms of compensation. If Diggs is the kind of talent that would necessitate a "bidding war" that would have the team taking on his massive contract AND giving up prime compensation in return - that's not the type of player you want to get rid of. Let alone pay money to do so, when we're in the situation we're in. He's not going anywhere. For a guy obsessed with shiny toys, it's odd to me you want to get rid of our biggest not named Josh Allen.

So the uproar here has been that when he was asked (keyword - he was replying to being asked, not just volunteering to talk about his future) if he'd be here (keyword - not if he WANTED to be here) - he simply answered that the decision is not up to him and people felt he should have said more than that. Now he's been asked again. This time he DID elaborate that he "hopes it doesn't happen" - implying he wants to be here. Yet that's still not going to be enough for some.

With all due respect, I find it extremely hard to believe that everyone else who has looked at this situation, people who have made a career of it - are wrong and you're just smarter than everyone else. If it were really as simple as the only difference between keeping him and letting him go is we save 6.7m and money we'll have to pay in 2026 will be paid in 2025 instead, you'd see almost everyone say you cut him. But everyone from Greg, to Spotrac, OverTheCap, Joe Buscaglia, Sal Capaccio agree that it will cost us extra cap space somewhere and that the time do it is next year instead. If there were really no difference, it wouldn't have been quoted as a 6 year deal that's actually a 3 year deal. They wouldn't all be unequivocally saying that the Out Year is 2025.

Who is these days? Everyone has a committee of different style RB's. Very few and far between do you see an every down RB anymore.

I do believe we'll draft 2 WR's. But I don't see us Drafting 3. Unless one of them is a throwaway pick in Round 7, expected to go to the Practice Squad or outwardly cut. There's no way that we go into next season with 2/3's of our WR core having never played a Regular season down of NFL football. Which is exactly where we'd be with Diggs, Shakir, Shorter (who is essentially a Rookie himself), and 3 Draft Picks. Like it or not, there's going to be a mid tier FA veteran WR brought in. 4 players without experience is too much of a gamble. It could hit or completely blow up in our face. They're going to want someone who is a known commodity, in the event that the Rookies don't develop quick enough, to go alongside Diggs and Shakir. I also don't think it's fair to say Shorter isn't an NFL WR before he's even played a down in the regular season. You just never know. People didn't think Bernard could play MLB on the NFL either, let alone go on to become a solid starter. Regardless of how you feel, Shorter was drafted in the 5th - not the 6th or 7th. He's going to get at least a season. If he's healthy, he's going to be one of the 6 WR's on the roster this year. I don't agree on Elam. McDuffie's short arms and stature didn't fit what they were looking for. He's a Nickel CB. He's developed into a great one at that in Kansas City. But that's not what we needed. They fell in love with Elam and his notebook interview at the Combine. He was always the guy they wanted. If there was a panic, it was that they were afraid he wouldn't reach them and moved up to get him. I think given what Beane said in his post season interview, WR is priority one. If the value is there, that's where they're going. However, if it's like last season, where the last FOUR 1st Round graded WR's go back to back to back to back all within a handful of picks of us, and a stud player at another position of need is there - I don't think he'll trade down for a WR. But one things for sure, in that situation, he'll either be trading up to the top to mid of Round 2 for WR or at the very least staying put and selecting a guy with our pick in Round 2. He'd look downright inept if he didn't walk out of the first 2 Rounds with a WR after he talked up the importance of getting Josh and Diggs help. .... now that I think about last year, I'm mad all over again. Thankfully we got Kincaid and he's great. But I still can't believe it. I was sitting there thinking "wow, this is incredible. We're at Pick 20 and JSN, Flowers, Johnston, and Addison are all still on the board". Then boom, boom, boom, boom - all in a row. Just unbelievable.

He did need a CB, but it's not like he just settled on Elam and over drafted him based solely on need. He was the guy that he liked. There were other CB's like Roger McCreary, Kyler Gordon, and Andrew Booth on the board. He traded up for Elam because that's who he wanted. It just didn't work out. You're always drafting for need. Specifically in Round 1. Every team goes into a Draft looking to fill holes. You just hope that value matches up with your need. When it comes to Kincaid, it's also not like he went into it hoping for WR and pivoted to another position completely when value didn't meet need. Kincaid is basically a TE in name only. He's a big slot WR. We needed a weapon and he was the best receiving prospect left on the board. He just so happens to technically be a Tight End. The scary thing about this Draft if you're hoping for a Round 1 WR is that we have so many needs this year. We need starters at WR, DE, DT, and Safety (maybe two if we move on from Poyer). On one hand, that's good when it comes to value in our pick. With so many needs, odds are pretty good someone at a position of need will have fallen. On the other, if you're hoping for WR and the value isn't there and someone's sticking out like a sore thumb at another position of need - we may go that way instead of trying to trade down to meet value and need at WR. If that situation happens, hopefully we can trade up in Round 2 to get the WR we need.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the comments in this thread. Every thread about any player or coach since the KC loss is filled with people who just want heads to roll everywhere. This coach sucks, the GM sucks, this player sucks, this player is toast, this player is overrated, we should cost ourselves cap to cut this player. It's so exhausting. You'd think we went 2-14.

Holy hyperbole Batman. 28 other teams in the league must have 2 out of 10 or 1 out of 10 rushers then.

He was the 4th leading rusher in the NFL and a first selection Pro Bowler. What's not to like? He's a Kamara type RB who has developed well. Saw huge growth between Year 1 and Year 2. A bit frustrating to see him outright drop some balls that hit him right in the hands though, as he was Drafted in large part because of his receiving ability in College. Hopefully he cleans that up next season. Every back in the league disappears at times. Defenses key in on the run and the blocking breaks down and it's hard to run. There were plenty of times though that his shiftiness found lanes and yardage where there shouldn't have been.

Exactly this. If Von's out were this year, Tre's was next year, we were thin at CB, and in good shape at DE - i'd be saying keep Tre and ditch Von. But that's not the case. Tre's out is this year. Von's is next year. We spent a 3rd on Douglas, who exceeded expectations. I don't think we gave up a 3rd for just half a season. It doesn't make sense to make either he or Benford (who is the future, developing VERY well, and you don't want to mess with that) the 3rd CB off the bench. Nor does it make sense to pay Tre, even in a restructure, what he'd be paid to be Outside CB3. We already have a 1st Round Pick in that role. And we need money anywhere we can get it. The argument that Von should be let go on in a vacuum, based on how he performed last season, is a fair one. But outside of that vacuum, there are other factors that make that something we shouldn't do - until next year. I think logically, Tre being cut on an injury settlement is a no brainer. Albeit an emotional one. But in the position we're in, we can't afford to let emotions dictate things.

I'm not a capologist. A lot of it is pretty confusing to me. All I know for sure is that everyone who has analyzed the situation and has looked at any potential way to save money anywhere says it's a no go for this season and we'd have to wait until 2025 if we want to move on. But according to some on this board, everyone else is wrong but them, there's no reason not to do it, and it's impossible that Von could be better with a full offseason of rehab, prep, and a Training Camp - while acknowledging Tre White needed the same thing himself. I'm done trying to defend the experts. They can believe what they want to believe. It's not going to change the fact that he's not going anywhere, whether they like it or hate it.

.... why should we approach this offseason like he's not on the roster? Like, he literally is. I guarantee you, Brandon Beane isn't approaching this offseason like Stefon Diggs isn't on the roster. Don't fall for that nonsense thread. He was asked if he'll be here and said that's not up to him. That's it. Players around the league say the same thing all the time. He wasn't asked if he wanted to be here and said he didn't. Don't be like the ones who are like "well he didn't say this, ergo he really means this, ergo he doesn't want to be here, ergo we should trade him". Absolute nonsense. That thread is full of people who don't like him, are annoyed by a player who has any sort of personality quirks, want him gone, and want to come up with any reason to say he shouldn't be here. Every year, people put on their tinfoil hat and read more into what he says or does and gets all hot and bothered in the knickers. Then what happens? Diggs tells the media that people need to stop putting words in his mouth (like he did last season when people were doing the same BS) and he shows up to work. And let's say he did say he wanted a trade. So? You know who else really wanted a trade? Davante Adams. He was throwing sh-t fits on national TV. You were saying go get him. And? He didn't go anywhere. Why? Because if you have a Superstar under contract - you keep the Superstar. While you and others try to come up with scenarios for him to leave, every fanbase and media member of teams around the league are fantasizing about trading for him. Reading into nonsense and praying that they could have Diggs. You don't want to trade players like that. Not only do we not want to, or have to, it would cost us money to do so. You shouldn't be saying "if he does end up staying - fine". You should want him to stay. He's still a #1 WR, who had a down half of a season due to injuries and a change in game planning from a new OC. Surround him with an actual WR or 2 to take some coverage away from him and he'll be able to do more. I know he's been here for 4 years and isn't a shiny new toy. But he's still a Superstar in this league and Josh's #1 target since Year 2. TL;DR - Diggs hasn't said he doesn't want to be here, so don't make assumptions that he doesn't. He hates that. Don't operate like he won't be here, he's under contract and he will be. Be happy about that bc every fan of every other team wants him and for a reason. That's exactly what we'll be doing. Closer to Round 4 than Round 2 though. We have too many starting holes to fill.

Davis is gone. So will be Deonte Harty and Trent Sherfield. The WR room is getting an overhaul as is. But Diggs would be too much to move on from this season. His out is in 2025. It's not happening before then. And even in a down year, he still finished in the Top 10 (7th) in Receptions in the entire NFL. 13th in the NFL in Yards. Over the past 4 seasons, he's caught 445 balls from Josh and amassed 5,372 yards (and that's not even counting post season). Now because of the second half of one single season where he was playing through injuries, he has "zero" chemistry with Josh? That's insane. As is the idea that a guy who still commands double coverage, is still a Top 10 (or at least top 7-13) WR in the league, and maybe most importantly, costs more to be moved before next offseason - should be moved on from right now. You're going to get 2-3 new WR's. Way more likely than not, a 1st Round WR. Probably a FA, possibly like Hollywood Brown that you like. That's pretty exciting. I don't get why reality isn't exciting enough for you that you have to fantasize and post about the unfeasible.

I see you're "having fun" with your completely unrealistic ideas in multiple threads. I don't understand how it's fun for you to think up ideas that just aren't feasible and then see them not happen year after year. Don't you get disappointed with reality when it happens? Reality is plenty fun. A 1st Round WR is possible, if not extremely likely. It's exciting. But you always have to take things too far.

Stefon Diggs carries a 31m dead cap hit to move on from, he's not going anywhere: https://www.si.com/nfl/bills/news/buffalo-bills-stefon-diggs-trade-rumors-pro-bowl-games Cortland Sutton has a 17.29 cap hit. We're 52m over and you have us taking on a massive cap hit in moving on from Diggs on top of it AND taking on 17.29 for Sutton: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/denver-broncos/courtland-sutton-25139/ Beyond that, you'd have us going into next season with only 1 WR that Josh has worked with and has chemistry with. 2 WR's that could be great, or complete busts. You were so close with your first post I saw you make regarding WR next season. But I guess we're back to nonsense that won't happen all offseason again. Not even a 1% chance.

Benford is growing with every season. He's the present and future of the Outside CB position on our team. The idea that you move him or Douglas to the bench for Tre at this point is insanity to me. As is giving up a 3rd for Douglas and letting him go in favor of Tre, who won't even be ready to start the season. It's a painful decision, but with Tre having an out in his contract this season, the personnel we have, and the situation we're in cap and roster wise - I don't know how you don't do an injury settlement and keep him around. The kind of restructure we can do would still be greatly overpaying for the role he'd have and the kind of question mark he is. With Douglas, Benford, Johnson, and Elam - we're good at the top 4 CB spots. But we need massive help elsewhere. And Tre's out in the contract is this offseason. Short of him taking like a paycut of like 75% (which I don't see him wanting to do), it doesn't make sense to me. He'll be here. He's still under contract. Him, Groot, Von, and Cline are all we have there right now.

Not even close? This is just factually wrong. We got the exact comparison you're making just last season. Tre White was at least at 80% last season. And that best game you talk about? It wasn't better than Douglas' best game. The games that weren't that game, he wasn't playing at the level that Douglas was for us prior to going down in Miami. He didn't fully return to form with any sort of consistency before the Achilles injury. And now he'll be coming back from that too. He's a complete question mark at this point. There's no saying he'll even be 80% of what he was. It's incorrect to say that he was better than Douglas last year and insane to say he definitively will be when he returns.

Everything I've read everywhere does not ascertain your statement that we'd save money cutting him this offseason. I've not found one article or post that says we'd be better off doing it this year. With how he performed last year and our cap situation this year, if it were really as simple as cut him and save 6.7m with no other ramifications, everyone would say do it. No one does. Just you and some other fans on the board. I'll go with the actual experts, who are trying to find any possible way to save anything and never list cutting Von. I don't think it's as simple as you and others are making it out to be. Or else it would be a no brainer. EDIT: Okay, i've found something. And again, it doesn't support your idea that it's a good call to cut him now, explaining why no one recommends doing it. Overthecap says Post 6/1 2024 - 17m in Dead Cap, 6.7 in cap savings. Post 6/1 2025 - 6.37m in Dead Cap, 17.5 in cap savings That's why you don't do it this year. You're paying 17m in Dead Cap for 6.7 in savings wherein next year, you're paying just 6.37 for 17.5 in savings. In the long run, you're essentially paying 11m to cut him now and create another hole.

Incorrect. Here's the very definition of Dead Cap: "Dead cap is money that is on your cap for a player who is not on your team. It is almost always money (usually signing bonus) that the team already paid the player but did not account for on the salary cap. It could also be guaranteed salary that the team still needs to pay for a player who they cut." That 17m Dead Cap is not sitting on the table now. It only comes into factor if we release him with a Post 6/1 designation. Here's the chart and who we're accounting for in Dead Money: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/# There's a reason that this contract was always looked at as a 6 year deal that's really only a 3 year deal. The out comes in 2025. Anything before that and you're cutting off your nose to spite your face. If it's really this simple, then why does every capologist say we're essentially stuck? That it would cost us way more to cut him than keep him for one more year?

There really is nasty ramifications. Releasing him this offseason would incur a 17.08 dead cap hit this season and a 15.417 dead cap hit next season as well. We'd take on over 32 in Dead Cap and save 6.7 on a post 6/1 cut. Meanwhile, in keeping him, we could take on just 15m dead cap next season and save 8.5 in 2025. So we'd be eating 32m in dead cap and saving 6.7 cutting him this year or eating 15m in dead cap and saving 8.5 next year. It's really a no brainer. Compounding the issue is the fact that, as opposed to CB, we're razor thin at DE. Cutting Miller would leave us with just Greg Rousseau, Kingsley Jonathan, and Kameron Cline under contract. And if you want to make it about cap space to spend on DE and damn the repercussions next year - there's actually a way to save 12m this year prior to 6/1. And it involves keeping him. It isn't advised, but neither is cutting him: You want to make it as simple as "cut Von now and save 6.7m". It's not. There's a reason why this is only something that's talked about as a possibility by fans. It's simply not going to happen. And if it's about getting money for his replacement this year and putting blinders on to repercussions - it still makes more sense to keep him.

Because as I said, there were a lot of factors there. I think bringing him back less than a year from surgery with no offseason physically working with the Defense was really rough. I think his body didn't respond as he expected and that mentally messed with him. Then all the other things that mentally had him off piled on top of it. Not the least of it going sober mid season. He did start to show signs of improvement later in the season, albeit minor ones. Again, I'm not saying for sure that he's going to be the same guy he was before the injury. But to say a less than 5% chance he shows something meaningful? I think that's a crazy claim. We're talking about one of the greatest of all time who has a metric sh-t ton going against him on and off the field last season. Who hears way more people than just you saying there's no chance he'll ever be close to the same guy again. I can't believe that won't motivate him. Can we rely on it and just make him starter? No. Definitely going to need to get another starting level DE in here as insurance like Floyd. But I disagree that it's impossible that we won't see a big improvement over last year and DEFINITELY put it at higher than 5%

I can understand not having faith. But less than 5%? That's wild to me. I actually think we are going to see an improvement. Will it be 2022 and before Von? That I'm not sure of. But we're talking about an all time great that is all but being written off by everyone. I think he's going to be INCREDIBLY motivated this offseason. I touched on reasons that I think he was the way he was last season in another post: I think with a full offseason to rehab his body, his mind, to be further away from the legal issues, with intense motivation to prove he's not who he was last season, and more time to acclimate to his new life of sobriety - we're almost assuredly going to see an improvement and a vast one from what we saw last season. So long as he doesn't relapse or get into further legal and domestic issues.

Read between the lines. He's saying "unless you hear me specifically say something - don't put words in my mouth". As people are doing now in this thread of that Pro Bowl interview. I do believe at times *in the past*, he has said and done some things that he knows the media will cover. Namely, when he was angling for a new contract. Tweets and stuff that can be read a million different ways. But never anything that a normal level headed person could say he was truly in the wrong or being controversial. Just little things to get people talking about him. He probably laughs at all the attention it gets and enjoys his name staying out there. And again, just because the media talks about it in the Offseason, when they're absolutely starved and ravenous to report on anything, doesn't mean it's important news. He's never said he's unhappy. He's never said there was a problem, outside of OTA's last season (which WAS something worth discussing at the time), and then he said they fixed it. He's not saying anything here worth discussing. His lack of saying exactly what you think he should say and implying it means more than it does is putting words in his mouth. Even more so than the embarrassing offseason media. In the past, he has played with the media. But this is not that and this is not something that deserved a thread and everyone getting up in arms about. Again, you're putting words in my mouth. I never said he purposely creates "controversies" or problems. Just that at times, like when he wanted a new contract - I think he says things that he knows will get coverage. But it's the media and tinfoil hat fans that then twist it into something else. That's who causes the problems. As he himself has said, "i'm not responsible for how other people feel". He's never said anything that the media and fans should quote him as saying he's unhappy or wants out. Everyone just twists his words. When there's truly a problem, as you posted from when he's in Minnesota, he'll say something or do something. Then it's fair to worry. But this doesn't fall under that umbrella or even of the umbrella of him toying with the media.