Bills quarterback Josh Allen recently asked the media to stop talking about last month’s drama with receiver Stefon Diggs. In talking about why the media shouldn’t talk about it, Allen talked about something that hadn’t been talked about before.
One of the biggest lingering questions was whether Diggs walked out of the facility before a mandatory minicamp practice, or whether he was told to leave. According to Allen, coach Sean McDermott “asked [Diggs] to go home.”
That’s very significant, for two reasons. First, it shows that something went haywire during the conversations about issues that Allen insists are no big deal. Second, it puts the team’s characterization of the situation in a much different light.
The media first became aware of the incident when McDermott disclosed that Diggs was absent from mandatory minicamp, adding that McDermott is “very concerned” about the situation. Then, after Diggs’s agent said the player is in Buffalo and will be attending the practices, the team said that Diggs left the building before the day’s practice started.
That night, Diggs went to social media with this message: “I just be letting people cap. If them lies help you sleep better tell em big dawg.” We didn’t know who he was referring to, or what the lie supposedly was.
Thanks to Allen, we’ve now got a pretty good idea. Diggs rightfully believed the team and its coach were mischaracterizing the circumstances surrounding Diggs’s departure from the building.
Why would anyone believe that everything is fine, based simply on the fact that Diggs was back the next day? (Coincidentally, or not, the Bills canceled the third day of the minicamp.) Beyond whatever damage needed to be repaired for whatever preceded McDermott telling Diggs to go home, there’s even more damage arising from Diggs being told to go home and then being painted as a guy who stormed out.
Allen has every reason to try to get the media to not pay attention to this. The issue won’t make the Bills any more likely to win a championship. If anything, having the story keep coming up and coming up will make it harder for the team and Diggs to get past the situation.
Still, it’s a story. It’s worth talking about. Allen’s desire to get the media to not talk about it makes it even more interesting to talk about, especially since Allen supplied a piece of news that wasn’t previously known.
