Buffalo Bills: Stefon Diggs impact on offense goes beyond stats
The impact Stefon Diggs has had on the Buffalo Bills offense has gone beyond just his stat line.
General manager Brandon Beane has never been afraid to make an aggressive move if he felt it would benefit the Buffalo Bills. That is exactly what he did this offseason when he traded for Stefon Diggs and sent four draft picks, including the team’s first round pick, to the Minnesota Vikings.
Anticipation built through training camp as fans were restricted to seeing the team’s new number one wide receiver through short video clips from reporters in attendance at practice.
Over the past two weeks, fans got to see first hand just how good Stefon Diggs is and he has been everything that was advertised. In the first two games, Diggs has 16 receptions, 239 receiving yards, and one touchdown. He also is tied for the league in receiving yards with Atlanta Falcons’ wide receiver Calvin Ridley.
However, his impact on this offense goes well beyond the numbers he has been able to produce.
It should be no coincidence that Josh Allen is off to a career start with Stefon Diggs now in this offense. Last year, the Bills added John Brown and Cole Beasley and they were significant improvements over the prior season.
However, at times the passing attack struggled and the team needed that go-to wide receiver. This is what Diggs brings to this team. He is an explosive wide receiver that opposing defenses have to game plan for and know where he is at all times.
This frees up Cole Beasley and John Brown now in winnable one on one matchups and they are also off to fast starts this year. Brown leads the team with two touchdown receptions to go along with 152 receiving yards while Beasley is not far behind with 128 receiving yards and nine receptions.
On Monday, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll talked about how unselfish the three wide receivers are and how it is rare to find.
I asked Bills OC Brian Daboll about the chemistry between Allen and Diggs thru two games. It led to this great story about how unselfish the WR group is and how is showed on Sunday pic.twitter.com/Bl0obJNePD
— Josh Reed (@4JoshReed) September 21, 2020
Next. Top takeaways from the Bills Week 2 performance. dark
The ability of Stefon Diggs to pull attention away from the other wide receivers gives them winnable matchups but helps open the throwing window for Josh Allen. While the Buffalo Bills quarterback will get most of the coverage, the way Diggs has been able to transform this offense just by his presence on the field will be a big reason for their success this season.