The Bills decision to trade Stefon Diggs to the Texans was one of the more shocking moves of the offseason. There were reports of friction between Diggs and quarterback Josh Allen, especially during the second half of last year. But it’s one thing to deal with ongoing friction between a quarterback and a receiver, which is relatively common, and another for Buffalo to trade its star receiver to Houston and leave Allen without high-level targets.
Except it’s working, at least so far. The idea that the Bills offense might be better off without Diggs sounds like the ultimate inflammatory hot take, but it’s hard to deny what we’ve seen in the first two games. A lot of this is about Allen’s superhuman talent level and his ability to make plays on his own, but most of the parts and pieces of Buffalo’s new look offense have fallen into place nicely so far in their two wins.
The concern about high-level targets for Allen seems overblown so far
Going into the season, the concerns about trading Diggs were very real. Even during what was perceived as a bit of a down year, Diggs still caught 107 balls for almost 1200 yards. His yards per catch dropped to 11.1 and he only had eight TDs, but he was still a focal point of the Buffalo offense, along with Gabe Davis, who signed a three-year deal with Jacksonville in the offseason.
Contrast those numbers with those of the Bills lone remaining receiver., Khalil Shakir. Shakir, who had 39 receptions last year, was widely viewed as a solid secondary option, although his 15.7 yards per catch number does stick out as a noteworthy positive. The Bills also drafted Keion Coleman in the second round, but Coleman wasn’t perceived as an elite target who could step in and fill Diggs’ very large shoes.
The best remaining option for Allen was tight end Dalton Kincaid, who had an excellent rookie year after Buffalo made him their #1 pick out of Utah with 73 catches. His yards per catch average was low at 9.2, but he proved to be a savvy security blanket for Allen with the potential to grow into a larger role.
Josh Allen is now spreading the ball around
One of the big issues with Diggs was that he insisted on being the focus of the Bills offense, which worked and made sense until his TDs and yards per catch numbers started to drop. Despite those issues, Allen was still forced to look for him, but now he’s gone back to looking for the open receiver, and he often helps out his receivers by making plays with his legs that leave them running open.
What Allen has needed more than anything, though, is a reliable running game built around a back who can run effectively between the tackles, along with a reliable tight end like Kincaid. The Bills tried to pretend Devin Singletary was that guy, but Singletary never really provided enough of a presence inside to keep Allen from having to do it all on his own.
James Cook is starting to do that for Buffalo, though. He’s actually lighter than Singletary according to their listed weights, but Cook repeatedly gashed Miami up the middle last night, and the Georgia product has grown enough as a receiver to give Allen yet another option for short passes and when the Bills adventurous QB ventures outside the pocket.
Who stretches the field going forward?
This is the big question for Buffalo as the season unfolds. The line of scrimmage is going to get crowded now that opponents have seen what the Bills are doing, and that could force Allen to go back to his risk-taking big play ways, which come with the possibility of a high turnover count that plagued Buffalo last year.
Based on the early returns, though, the Bills may have found something. Two games is a very small sample size, of course, but if Allen can be Allen without turning the ball over a lot, those predictions that the Buffalo offense would be hamstrung without Diggs to stretch the field may have been premature indeed.