While mandatory minicamps happen in the NFL, the Bills had one of the more unique starts on Tuesday.
Stefon Diggs, the team’s star receiver, had yet to participate in any of their voluntary organized team activities in May and June, further underscoring the intrigue surrounding his possible whereabouts for the mandatory mini-camp.
It was the first topic coach Sean McDermott brought up, and his responses immediately set off alarm bells.
“Stef isn’t here, everyone else is here right now,” McDermott said, choosing his words carefully. When asked if he was concerned about Diggs’ absence, McDermott said he was “very concerned, very concerned.”
The coach declined to go into details and offered no indication of Diggs’ absence other than the receiver not being there for practice.
This led to a rollercoaster ride over the next two hours as the team went through their practice. According to an initial report, Diggs had actually been at the team facility but then left. Around 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, almost two hours after McDermott said Diggs was not there, the Bills confirmed that Diggs had been at the team facilities at Orchard Park Monday and Tuesday morning but left before practice. Despite the clarification, no reason was given for Diggs leaving practice before practice.
Many wondered why there was such a discrepancy between Diggs’ actions and the head coach’s words just before the Bills began training. Had McDermott mentioned that Diggs had been at Orchard Park for the past two days but was not training, it probably would have resulted in a far less dramatic two hours at team facilities. But McDermott left it intentionally vague.
While there was no internal separation between the team and Diggs, it seemed so on the surface. And McDermott’s “very concerned” comment only added fuel to the fire.
With the entire situation unfolding in real-time, the players who were scheduled to speak to reporters on the pitch after their practice session were slowly learning what had happened over the past two hours. Quarterback Josh Allen, who usually makes a beeline for the podium after practice on his scheduled speaking days, instead trotted through the practice hall to the practice center, likely to catch up on the situation.
When Allen returned to the mic moments later, he made it clear what he meant about Diggs in the first sentence.
“I know internally we are working on some non-football related things but Stef is my type. Excuse me [language]”I love him,” Allen said. “What we’re doing here wouldn’t work without him.”
As for the “non-football” points that needed work, Allen didn’t go into many other details, but did point out that some communications may not have been handled properly. He also mentioned that the question of how one would classify the disagreements at this point is somewhat complex.
“I think there’s the football part, one and things that happen because of football and I’m just going to leave it at that,” Allen said. “I think it’s mostly about teamwork.”
But Allen, along with Pass Rusher and teammate Von Miller, agreed that the Diggs situation would be resolved shortly.
Miller mentioned that he spoke to Diggs two weeks ago, with the recipient saying he wanted to be in Buffalo and win a Super Bowl with the organization.
“It’ll work out,” Miller said. “I’m not really worried about that.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to get him back in our dressing room,” Allen said. “Don’t kid yourself, he’s a Buffalo Bill and we’ll work it out.”
Allen remained adamant that Diggs wanted to stay in Buffalo and that he didn’t think the situation was a distraction. But even if the two stars downplayed the dramatic course of the day, there’s still some part about what McDermott said before the start of practice and how it fueled the rest of the day.
“I think that’s a typical head coach reaction,” Allen said of McDermott’s “very concerned” comment just hours earlier. “As a quarterback, a guy I played with for three years, a guy I know and love, I’m not worried that I can’t get four reps with him at mandatory mini-camp right now.”
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McDermott won’t be speaking to reporters for the remainder of the mandatory minicamp, so there may be no clarification as to why he kept things vague at first. It could have been simply a factual presentation of things as here and now, which is why he added the line “at the present time” to the end of his answer. Or for those who think it could mean something bigger, McDermott has been known to send a message to a few individual players through the media before.
Regardless of the coach’s approach, his teammates closest to Diggs don’t see Tuesday’s dramatic flair as a long-term problem.
“He wants to win,” Allen said. “That’s what matters.
“We don’t want this to be a distraction. He doesn’t want this to be a distraction. It is what it is. The positive thing is that we don’t play a game tomorrow. We have time. This is mini camp. We have plenty of time to find out.”
The Bills return to the field for the second practice of their three-day mandatory mini-camp on Wednesday. All eyes will be on receivers again to see if Diggs will be there for the first time this offseason – and if the teams have found a way to get back together.
(Photo by Stefon Diggs: Joshua Bessex / Getty Images)