Bills General Manager explains why they traded Stefon Diggs
Before the star wide receiver was traded, there appeared to be a deterioration in the relationship between him and the Buffalo Bills. However, general manager Brandon Beane claims that money was the lone, very simple factor that determined the decision.
In an interview with “The Athletic Football Show” that aired on Tuesday, Beane discussed the Diggs trade. In response to a question about why the Bills decided to spend $31 million on Diggs instead of distributing the funds over multiple seasons through a trade after June 1, Beane stated that it was preferable for the team to terminate Diggs’ contract as soon as possible.
A player of his caliber is someone who considers many factors. However, in the end, all we discussed was the (salary) cap. I don’t have to list every justification for our decision to move forward with that. From a cap perspective, I would say we just decided to eat it out now,” Beane said, according to a transcript provided by CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin. We believe that by consuming it right away, we can compete and accomplish our goals. Because if we didn’t, if we attempted to divide it up in an excessive number of ways, it would be like having an albatross around your neck all year. How does ’25 look? What does “26” mean?
That basically indicates that the Bills had already decided to trade Diggs. They reasoned that it would be preferable to accept the $31 million lump sum now rather than absorb a smaller loss over time.
Diggs was traded to the Houston Texans prior to the NFL Draft, costing the Bills $31 million in dead salary cap space. They were able to free up $19 million for 2025 while losing about $4 million in cap space for this season. Diggs’ release would have resulted in a far more complicated financial situation if they had waited too long and were unable to trade him.
It’s obvious Diggs had problems with the Bills before he was traded. It’s unlikely that the drama had less of an impact on the decision than the four-year, $96 million contract he signed in 2022, but it’s still likely that it did.
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