Are the Buffalo Bills leading NFL fans to believe their Super Bowl window has closed shut now that the Stefon Diggs trade is complete?
The blockbuster deal, which saw the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver get shipped to the Houston Texans on Wednesday morning, has one former NFL player and current ESPN analyst believing the Bills have officially lost their contender status.
Which Former NFL Player Has Written Off the Buffalo Bills?
Count Marcus Spears of NFL Live as one who believes other teams in the AFC will soon leapfrog the Bills in the race for the Vince Lombardi Trophy in 2024.
The former NFL defensive lineman was the most vocal among the panelists about the state of the Bills post-Diggs. Spears cites the pressure a rookie wide receiver or even veteran help will face in replacing Diggs as a catalyst.
“That’s the sticking point. It’s the unknown, right? Like, if you go get a free agent that is proven outside of Tee Higgins, you deal with the fact of … ‘What if this guy doesn’t pan out to be what we need him to be?'” Spears asked.
He made the same argument for if the Bills opt to pivot to the 2024 NFL Draft in their effort to search for Diggs’ replacement.
“You have to even ask that question about rookies, even if you’re moving up for [one with] as much attention these guys are about to get,” Spears added.
Granted, Spears stated he has taken notice of how well a lot of rookie wideouts have panned out when they enter the league, citing how “the game is starting to translate from college to what they’re doing in the pros.” But another pivotal Bills player is facing immense pressure after the Diggs deal.
“Josh Allen, it all goes back to him,” Spears said. “You think there was an immense amount of pressure to perform at a high level? Well, today, it just got heightened to 10.”
In the mind of Spears, he’s not envisioning Buffalo making a title run after glancing at the rest of the team’s WR room.
“They have to do something to put some more talent at that position because like I said before: All of the production for the majority of what they did at wide receiver has left the building,” Spears said.
Do Others Believe the Bills Are Done?
ESPN’s NFL insider Field Yates was next to chime in on the Diggs deal, leaving Buffalo with an open competition to figure out the next WR1 for the franchise. Yates concurs with Spears in looking at the new state of the Bills.
“They just got a lot worse on this roster,” Yates said. “That wide receiver room just got that much thinner.”
Buffalo not only won’t have Diggs be a part of its offensive game plans, but the team also lost Diggs’ counterpart Gabe Davis via free agency, as he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yates adds how he clearly saw a disconnect between Diggs and the Bills’ organization, which sparked the trade with Houston.
Yet, Buffalo is sending away its All-Pro wide receiver, who began to ascend career-wise after the mega 2020 trade with the Minnesota Vikings. Yates still remains perplexed about how the Bills pulled off this move.
“This makes it one of the more fascinating trades in the NFL,” Yates said.
PFN’s NFL Analyst Dakota Randall said in his article reporting the news of Diggs being traded, “It’s not a stretch to say that the Texans now are ahead of the Bills in the AFC pecking order.”
Meanwhile, former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky is another who believes Buffalo created new, increasing pressure on itself to prove the Bills won’t be affected by the stunning trade.
“The pressure is on Brandon Beane and Josh Allen. And everyone knows how much I love Josh, and I think Brandon Beane is one of the best general managers in the NFL, but they don’t have a No. 1 or No. 2 receiver,” Orlovsky said. “So, this is a massive hole for their football team that they’re gonna have to attack in this draft, and they can’t just add one wide receiver; they need to add at least two.”
KEEP READING: Bills General Manager Brandon Beane Brutally Honest About Stefon Diggs Trade — ‘Are We Better Today? Probably Not’
