HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The shock of Stefon Diggs’ trade to the increasingly talented Houston Texans roster should have worn off Thursday.
But there’s still a stunning detail in Diggs’ jump from Buffalo to H-Town.
League sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the Texans will wipe out the three remaining years in Diggs’ deal after 2024, which means he’ll become a free agent in 2025.
The Texans also reportedly gave him a raise in what could be his only season in Houston, moving the $3.5 million guaranteed in 2025 and adding it to the $19 million he’s assured to earn this season.
The video above is about whether Diggs will be difficult to handle in the Texans’ locker room.
So, why would the Texans keep the two-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver under club control for one year?
Schefter writes that the Texans anticipate getting the best version of Diggs, who can negotiate another long-term contract next offseason.
Diggs is a nine-year NFL veteran who turns 31 in November, evidently betting that his best is yet to come. In 2020, he posted career highs in season receiving yards and catches in just 16 games.
The adjusted contract wasn’t the only thing revealed about Diggs.
He’s the 1 in 7-1-3
The Texans and Diggs’ social media channels confirmed the University of Maryland alum’s arrival in Houston on Thursday. He sent a short message from the locker room at NRG Stadium to Texans fans.
“What’s up, H-Town? It’s Stefon Diggs here. I’m excited to get going. I’m excited to get to work,” the star wideout said before pausing and closing with, “let’s go!”
Diggs also posted several photos showing him sat at his locker with his name placard already up.
One of the remaining questions left about Diggs – aside from, “Are the Texans true Super Bowl contenders now?” – is what’s his uniform number?
Diggs wore No. 14 with two different teams throughout his career. No. 14 is already spoken for. Alex Bachman, another wide receiver on the roster, holds it.
So, Diggs went old-school with his selection of No. 1. The 6-foot wideout wore the number as a Maryland Terrapin.
The team also found an opportunity to get clever with the adoption. The Texans’ social media team built a graphic with C.J. Stroud, Diggs, and Tank Dell in that order. Stroud is No. 7 while Dell is No. 3.
Broncos coach Sean Payton filed for divorce from quarterback Russell Wilson on Monday. The only thing to figure out now is who gets custody of Thunder.
I was enjoying my return to The Denver Post, stomach full of lunch and face sore from laughs. Then the phone pinged. Any time there is an alert in early March about an NFL team, it means you’re not going to be home for dinner.
Wilson arrived in Denver in March 2022 determined to make history. This is not what he had in mind. The Broncos will take on an $85 million salary cap hit, divided over two seasons. No team has absorbed this much money for a mistake. As in, ever.
When the Broncos acquired Wilson, he was viewed as a savior — a former Super Bowl champion capable of returning Denver to relevance. Somehow, inexplicably, he made it worse. He won 11 games for roughly $124 million, a return-on-investment cringe not seen since the Rockies shipped off pitcher Mike Hampton in 2002.
It was not all Wilson’s fault, though his decision to reinvent himself as a pocket passer in 2022 under clown show coach Nathaniel Hackett and consistent failings in the red zone this past season left his fingerprints at the scene.
No one quite knows how the Broncos became a quarterback nadir, replacing the Cleveland Browns. Peyton Manning retired, walking into a life of commercials and coaching youth football, and there became a sobering new reality. The Broncos did not know how to find a replacement. John Elway had as much to do with it as anybody when he whiffed on Paxton Lynch, leading to long-armed reaches into the island of misfit toys that included Joe Flacco and Case Keenum. When general manager George Paton took over in 2021, he inherited the mess at the league’s most important position. Watching the Broncos spiral out of playoff contention in the final month, he surveyed the AFC landscape and determined a franchise quarterback was a must.
Tired of shopping for a couch on Craigslist, Paton wandered into IKEA and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He traded four draft picks (two first-rounders, two second-rounders) and three starters (quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant and defensive end Shelby Harris) to Seattle in exchange for Wilson.
The trade now serves as a cautionary tale of desperation. The Broncos gave up everything and ceded all power to Wilson in the relationship. Getting a revised contract was always part of the deal to waive his no-trade clause, though he will never play a down on his five-year, $242.5 million extension.
Wilson was given the green light to bring his entourage into the building and function as a pseudo-coach.
It was an epic failure. With Hackett complicit, Wilson sacrificed a season trying to prove he could run an offense that was designed for Aaron Rodgers, the Broncos’ original 2022 target before he received a new contract from the Green Bay Packers.
At one point in 2022, nobody was neutral in Broncos Country about Wilson. They disliked him. Or hated him.
When the Broncos hired Payton 13 months ago, he made it clear he was not married to the quarterback. He would give it a season. It only took 15 games and he went to Jarrett. Stidham, that is. He became the 13th starter since Super Bowl 50 and was as underwhelming as those before him.
It is important to remember Payton was not brought here to fix Wilson. He was brought here to fix the Broncos. That could not happen, he decided, with Wilson. The Broncos offense stank in the red zone and specifically in goal-to-goal situations. While Payton was rather ordinary on game day in his return after a one-year hiatus, he laid the blame on Wilson.
Russ went off script. He failed to call plays quickly enough. He forgot to send players in motion.
Payton, however, did the impossible and made Wilson a sympathetic figure when he benched him as it leaked out that the Broncos asked Wilson to adjust his contract during the bye week last October. Wilson’s $37 million in base salary in 2025 would have become guaranteed if he had remained on the roster past March 17. Denver wanted to move the date back. Wilson balked and explained in December that it was then that a benching was first broached. I don’t blame the Broncos for asking for relief, nor do I blame Wilson for refusing. The relationship was fraying at the seams.
When the season ended, Wilson held a morsel of hope that things could work out as the team publicly kept the door slightly ajar.
Wilson reached out to me last week, saying he “forever wished it was going (to happen) in Denver. I really wanted to win there.” His first year was a lost season for several reasons, including injuries — hamstring, shoulder, concussion. But he believed he played well last season, posting 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He was “grateful for long-lasting relationships,” but acknowledged it was time to move on from a “sad and disappointing” ending.
No one will ever question Wilson’s work ethic or passion. He was better, but not in the eyes of the one person who mattered.
Payton wants to run his offense — steeped in timing, execution and the ball coming out from the pocket. Scribbling outside the lines — Wilson’s strength — is not sustainable for the coach.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton, center, stands between Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson (3), left, and Denver Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham (4), right, as the team comes out of the visiting tunnel before the game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on Jan. 7, 2024. The Las Vegas Raiders took on Denver Broncos during week 18 of NFL season. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
Under normal circumstances, the GM would be fired for the Wilson acquisition and contract. Owner Greg Penner views the situation differently. Paton was working without ownership when the deal was struck, and the new owners signed off on the contract extension. And for now, Penner likes how Payton and Paton work together.
In the end, Payton’s legacy, if not his express lane to Canton, hinges on this next move. The onus is on him. He has never let anything interfere with winning. Wilson didn’t take. Payton moved on. He believes he and his staff can find the right quarterback, that they will be better at it than most. In eight years, the Broncos’ caliber of play at the position has gone from Hall of Fame to Hall of Meme.
Payton pulled off the Band-Aid and lost zero winks of sleep.
So it is, Wilson’s last day is my first day at The Post. Let’s write.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is active but it’s unclear if he’ll start against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Allen hurt his right elbow, which is his throwing elbow, in the final minutes of a 20-17 loss at the New York Jets. The injury is similar to the one that led to him to miss four games during his rookie season in 2018 — the last time Allen missed a start.
Allen was listed as questionable to play after practicing on a limited basis on Friday. He had missed the previous two practices.
If Allen doesn’t start, the Bills will go with journeyman backup Case Keenum.
Buffalo’s secondary is missing starting safety Jordan Poyer (elbow), startig cornerback Kaiir Elam (ankle), while Tre’Davious White will sit out his third straight game since being activated. White has yet to play since tearing a ligament in his left knee nearly a year ago.
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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen tested his injured throwing elbow on Friday for the first time in practice this week and is listed as questionable to play against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
The Bills referred to Allen’s practice time as being limited, which is still considered a step in the right direction since he sat out the first two sessions after hurting his right elbow in the final minutes of a loss to the New York Jets last weekend.
Speaking before practice, coach Sean McDermott expected the decision on Allen’s playing status to come down to game time.
“We are literally in an hour-to-hour situation here,” McDermott said. “Just looking at how he’s going to progress through the day, and as he goes through these different tests, medically, making sure that he’s able to check the boxes in a progression to where we can see if we can proceed through the course of the day here.”
The coach then provided a vague response when asked what he needs to see from Allen in determining whether Allen can play: “That’s probably getting too far down the road at this point or into the weeds.”
McDermott added: “Respectfully, we’ve just got to continue to take it through the day here and we’ll see. Listen, I’m going to do a great job of being a listener also in terms of listening to our medical team.”
The Bills officially ruled out starting safety Jordan Poyer (elbow) and starting defensive end Greg Rousseau (ankle) from playing against the NFC North-leading Vikings (7-1). Rookie cornerback Kaiir Elam, who has split the starting duties with fellow rookie Christian Benford, is listed as doubtful with an ankle injury.
Starting middle linebacker Tremain Edmunds (groin/heel) is listed as questionable after he practiced for the first time this week on Friday, while McDermott said starting linebacker Matt Milano (oblique) “should be ready to go” after missing one game.
Allen hasn’t missed a start since sustaining a similar injury in 2018, which forced him to miss four games in his rookie season.
If he can’t go, the AFC-leading Bills (6-2) would turn over the NFL’s top-ranked offense in yards gained to journeyman backup Case Keenum. He’s a 10-year veteran who enjoyed his best season playing for the Vikings in 2017, when he went 11-3.
“Case is a true pro and we have all the confidence in Case and Matt Barkley for that matter,” McDermott said, referring to Buffalo’s two veteran backups. ”(Keenum) has earned all the respect in the world around here. And and I know he’ll be ready if called upon.”
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