Photo: Timothy T Ludwig
Jason Smith: âWhether you realize it or not, we have seen the end of one playerâs run as a superstar in the NFL, and we saw it Sunday. Stefon Diggs has been great for a long time, but what weâve seen over the back half of this season and Sunday â that's it for Stefon Diggs being the superstar wide receiver for the better part of the last seven, eight years. They tried to force the ball to him â eight targets, he had just three catches. You see the plays where they try to force the ball to him, his separation is not there anymore, and now heâs having trouble making the contested catches. From the middle of October and on, he was âjust a guy.â His last 100-yard game was October 15th. Itâs like he got old overnight. Heâs not the 7-8-9 catches a game, no matter what -- Josh Allen could find him, guy anymore. Thatâs what the last few years was like with this Bills offense. Heâs not that way anymore. James Cook has become a big weapon and one of the top running backs in the NFL, Khalil Shakir is making more plays and carving out a bigger role in the offense, Dalton Kincaid looks like heâs the next Travis Kelce... Stefon Diggs just isnât the same guy. It started out weird this season when he missed some practice time and was very cagey, and he started out playing okay, but middle of the year he just hit the skids and he wasnât the same player. He wasnât getting the ball, and they couldnât get it to him. Itâs like heâs a DeAndre Hopkins or AJ Green â a player where youâre like âTHIS GUY IS GREAT!â, and then overnight heâs really a number two. Itâs weird to get used to because heâs still a big name but heâs not giving you the production of what he had been for most of his career. You may say âNAH, THE GUY IS JUST IN A LITTLE BIT OF...â No, heâs sliding into âmaybe the guy can go and be a three...â, but thatâs where itâs going for Stefon Diggs -- on that DeAndre Hopkins, AJ Green, Julio Jones type path where very quickly they go from being a âoneâ, to now âuhh, if heâs on the team I guess itâs OK, but heâs not making a difference anymoreâ, and you saw this slide for the better part of three months. Itâs a $30 million dead cap hit if they let Diggs go, so next year youâre just going to see him with Stefon Diggsâ name but his production is going to be down, and itâs going to be a new team somewhere else in 2025 when heâs 32 and just trying to stay in the league. Heâs just not that guy anymore.âÂ
Listen to Jason Smith of Fox Sports Radioâs The Jason Smith Show explain why Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggsâ days of being a no. 1 wideout are long gone, with Smith saying Diggs will be a ânumber threeâ going forward, and a guy will who barely be holding onto an NFL roster spot by 2025.
Check out the segment above as Smith details the precipitous decline from the former All-Pro, who may have cost the Bills a chance to win the Super Bowl after he dropped a crucial deep ball late in the fourth quarter vs. Kansas City in the AFC Divisional Round.
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