| NFC NORTH |
| DETROITYes, QB JARED GOFF got a game ball for passing perfection. Eric Woodyard ofESPN.com: After Monday night’s victory over the Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell admitted to feeling “awful” for not giving quarterback Jared Goff a game ball to commemorate an NFL record-setting performance that saw him complete all 18 of his passes. Campbell said he didn’t initially realize what Goff had accomplished and instead gave the game balls to wide receiver Jameson Williams and safety Kerby Joseph. Advertising But the coach worked hard Tuesday to make it right. “Yeah, we did, we found one,” Campbell said. “Yes, we did. And look, normally what we do is, I’ll give out an immediate game ball afterward, and then normally we always have another one or two that show up when we do it here the day after the game, after a win. “So that was an easy one to get him that one. It’s a great job. And [offensive coordinator] Ben [Johnson] still got his, too.” Goff also didn’t keep the ball from his first touchdown reception after he caught a 7-yard pass from teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown at 6:57 of the third quarter in Monday’s 42-29 win. Instead, he launched it into the Ford Field stands, which was also impressive to Campbell. “Oh, I saw it, that was unbelievable, it was outstanding,” Campbell said. “It was a hell of a throw. I thought he was going to hit [Lions mascot] Roary at first.” Goff ended up with 292 yards passing and two touchdowns as Detroit moved to 3-1. He recorded a 95.1 QBR, the highest by a Lions quarterback since the metric was introduced in 2006, per ESPN Research. His 16.2 yards per attempt was also the highest in “Monday Night Football” history (minimum 10 passes). “I’m just happy we got the win,” Goff said following the game. |
| NFC EAST |
| DALLASWR BRANDIN COOKS has had surgery – for an infection. David Archer of ESPN.com: The Dallas Cowboys will be without wide receiver Brandin Cooks for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers — and potentially longer — after an infection developed in his right knee following a surgical procedure last week, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Cooks had surgery in New York following last week’s win against the Giants, sources said. After he developed symptoms upon his return to Dallas, Cooks had another surgery to clean out the infection in his knee. That was performed by team doctors over the weekend. Coach Mike McCarthy confirmed Cooks wouldn’t play against the Steelers on Sunday. Cooks, 31, had been dealing with a knee issue since training camp, but it did not keep him from practicing or playing. He had a similar procedure done over the summer during training camp without any issues. In the first four games, Cooks has nine catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, but four of those receptions — and his TD — came in the season-opening win against the Cleveland Browns. The Cowboys have had difficulty getting Cooks going offensively since acquiring him in a trade from the Houston Texans in 2023. He came to the Cowboys with six 1,000-yard seasons to his credit with four different franchises (New Orleans, New England, Los Angeles Rams, Houston). Cooks, who had 54 catches for 657 yards and eight touchdowns last season, has been a valuable mentor to the wide receivers and entire locker room. During training camp, he displayed his top-end speed to make numerous plays. His absence leaves the Cowboys thin and inexperienced at receiver behind CeeDee Lamb, who has 20 receptions for 316 yards and two touchdowns. The Cowboys have Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks, KaVontae Turpin and Ryan Flournoy, who has yet to be active this season, behind Lamb on the 53-man roster. They have combined for 21 receptions for 267 yards and two scores. The last time the Cowboys made an in-season trade for a wide receiver was in 2018, when they acquired Amari Cooper from the Oakland Raiders for a first-round pick. The Cowboys have $22.25 million in salary cap room, according to NFLPA figures. However, they wanted to carry over most of that money to 2025, when they will need the room for the dead money on expiring contracts involving Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence and Cooks. |
| NFC SOUTH |
| TAMPA BAYThe Buccaneers are short-handed again Thursday night in Atlanta. Josh Alper ofProFootballTalk.com: Head coach Todd Bowles told reporters on Wednesday that the team has ruled five players out on the short week. That group includes three players who have missed multiple games. Right tackle Luke Goedeke (concussion) and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (foot) are out for the fourth straight game while defensive tackle Calijah Kancey (calf) has yet to play in the regular season. Wide receivers Jalen McMillan (hamstring) and Trey Palmer (concussion) have also been ruled out for Thursday. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Kameron Johnson, and Sterling Shepard will be the available wideouts on the active roster. |
| NFC WEST |
| SAN FRANCISCOMaurice Jones-Drew ranks the top 15 running backs at the quarter pole here. You can see his whole list Look who he has at number 2, behind RB DERRICK HENRY of the Ravens: 2 Jordan MasonSan Francisco 49ers · Year 32024 stats: 4 games | 91 att | 447 rush yds | 4.9 ypc | 3 rush TDs | 6 rec | 57 rec yds | 0 rec TDs | 0 fumbles lost Who here thought Mason would be leading the league in carries and rank second in rushing yards at the outset of October? I won’t lie to you — I didn’t see this being the case, even after his impressive Week 1 outing. Yet here we are after he added 123 yards and a touchdown on 24 attempts in Sunday’s win over New England. Mason’s physical style has the 49ers barreling through opposing defenses every week, as he leads the NFL with 300 rushing yards after contact, per Next Gen Stats. Mason should only build on his early production this Sunday against a Cardinals team that just gave up more than 200 ground yards to the Commanders. |
| AFC WEST |
| LAS VEGASCody Benjamin of CBSSports.com hears there are three teams in play for the services of WR DAVANTE ADAMS: Davante Adams has reportedly informed the Las Vegas Raiders he wants to be traded. Now several contenders are plotting potential offers for the Pro Bowl wide receiver, with the Pittsburgh Steelers showing “preliminary interest,” according to Josina Anderson, and both the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets making contact with the Raiders about a potential deal, according to The Athletic. A pair of subsequent reports, though, indicated that the Cowboys have actually not shown interest at all. (Which makes much more sense, as the Cowboys have shown almost no willingness to spend money to upgrade their skill-position corps.) As for Adams, the veteran has both the Jets and New Orleans Saints on, if not atop, his personal wish list, according to ESPN. The common thread there: Adams has played with those two teams’ quarterbacks before; the Jets’ Aaron Rodgers is perhaps Adams’ most beloved teammate from his time with the Green Bay Packers, and the Saints’ Derek Carr played with Adams at both Fresno State and with the Raiders. Pittsburgh was heavily linked to San Francisco 49ers wideout Brandon Aiyuk before the veteran signed a long-term contract extension prior to the 2024 season, reportedly coming close to acquiring the pass catcher. The Cowboys, meanwhile, are looking to improve upon a 2-2 start, lacking elite production opposite CeeDee Lamb at wide receiver. There are many other teams monitoring Adams’ availability, per The Athletic, though the Raiders are “in no rush to make a move until a team reaches their asking price.” ESPN reported this week that Las Vegas has told potential suitors it would be open to dealing the former Green Bay Packers star for a package that includes at least a second-round draft pick, plus other draft capital. The 31-year-old Adams had long downplayed rumors of discontent in Las Vegas, only to privately change his tune this week. Acquired by the Raiders for a first- and second-round pick in 2022, he sat out the club’s recent Week 4 victory with a hamstring injury, then spoke cryptically about his relationship with coach Antonio Pierce in an appearance on the “Up & Adams” show, leading to speculation about his future. Jason Owens of YahooSports.com has a different list: Davante Adams is on the trade block. There are multiple media reports that the Las Vegas Raiders are seeking to trade the three-time All-Pro in addition to a report that Adams wants out. Add in head coach Antonio Pierce’s social media activity all but endorsing a trade, and Adams’ exit from Las Vegas seems inevitable. It appears it’s just a matter of working out the details — the most important of which is finding a trade partner. Adams, 31, is on the back slope of his career. But he was a first-team All-Pro two seasons ago and managed 103 receptions for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns last season while catching passes from Aidan O’Connell, Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer. There’s plenty left in the tank to make Adams a coveted target for a contender or a team with a strong young quarterback looking to upgrade its passing game. There are multiple teams early in the NFL season that fit that bill. New York JetsThis one jumps off the page. Adams developed into one of the NFL’s best receivers in eight seasons of catching passes from Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. Rodgers is now quarterbacking a Jets team that through four games has fallen short of expectations of an offensive breakout. The Jets entered the season with Super Bowl hopes, but are 2-2 and coming off one of the worst losses of the NFL season — a 10-9 home defeat to the Denver Broncos. The Jets scored three field goals and failed to find the end zone in Sunday’s loss. Alarms are blaring. This offense needs a boost. Third-year pro Garrett Wilson is a standout, but so far has been limited to 191 yards and one touchdown through four games in a stagnant offense. Allen Lazard, who played with Rodgers in Green Bay, is New York’s leading receiver with 206 yards. Who better to add a jolt to the Jets’ attack than Rodgers’ all-time favorite target? Dallas CowboysCue up another team that has raised early season rumblings in the face of immense expectations. The Cowboys are 2-2 with an ugly loss to the New Orleans Saints and a less-than-inspiring win over the New York Giants. Jerry Jones is already raising his hand to take the blame, and we haven’t even reached the crushing early-exit-in-the-playoffs portion of the calendar. Coming off a training camp holdout, All-Pro wideout CeeDee Lamb is off to a slow start after lighting the league on fire last season. His arrow is pointing up after a big game in last week’s win over the Giants. But a Cowboys offense that managed just 20 points against New York is not soothing concerns. And there’s no true No. 2 option on the wide receiver depth chart. Adding Adams would provide a bona fide threat opposite Lamb and allow Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert to fall into more fitting supporting roles. It would also provide Jones with some cover on his commitment to go “all in.” Buffalo BillsSunday’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens noted, this is not a team like the ones above that are falling short of expectations. Through three weeks, the Bills looked like the best team in the NFL with an explosive offense elevating quarterback Josh Allen near the top of the MVP conversation. They lost big on the road against a desperate contender on Sunday. This happens in the NFL. We’re not selling our Bills stock. But we are acknowledging that they could use a boost on offense, most notably at wide receiver. After the offseason trade of Stefon Diggs, third-year wideout Khalil Shakir sits atop the Bills’ depth chart. He’s had a fine season through four games. But as a fifth-round draft pick with a career high of 611 receiving yards last season, he does not fit the profile of a top target on a championship contender. Keon Coleman might some day, but that’s a lot to ask of a second-round rookie. Of the Super Bowl hopefuls, the Bills entered the season with the most glaring hole at wide receiver. Adams would fill it nicely and immediately raise the profile of an already dangerous Buffalo offense. Baltimore RavensSpeaking of the Ravens. They’re still searching for the first Pro Bowl receiver of the Lamar Jackson era. In fact, they’re still in search of the first Pro Bowl receiver in franchise history. That’s just how good Jackson is. He has made three Pro Bowls and won two league MVPs without the benefit of an upper-tier receiver. It’s not for a lack of trying. The Ravens have spent three first-round draft picks on receivers since 2019, selecting Marquise Brown, Rashod Bateman and Zay Flowers. Brown is no longer with the team. Bateman (144 yards in four games) and Flowers (158 yards in four games) don’t look remotely close to making their Pro Bowl turn. The Ravens are perennial contenders but have yet to advance to the Super Bowl during the Jackson era. Let’s see what Jackson can do with a top-end receiver at his disposal. Washington CommandersHere’s a team that didn’t enter the season with playoff expectations, much less Super Bowl hopes. While the latter remains far-fetched — for now, at least — rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is emphatically changing the narrative. Thanks to some jaw-dropping throws and stat lines to match, Daniels looks legitimately like the long-sought answer at quarterback in Washington after decades of Dan Snyder-inspired swings and misses. This dude is the real deal, and the Commanders have a 3-1 start to show for it. Terry McLaurin is on the verge of a star turn playing with Daniels, but there’s little experience of note behind him on Washington’s depth chart. What neutral observer wouldn’t want to see what Daniels can do — and how far he can take the Commanders — with a bona fide All-Pro on his side? Pittsburgh SteelersThanks in large part to myriad quarterback questions, the Steelers also entered the season with middling expectations. An injury to Russell Wilson and a 3-0 start behind Justin Fields and a shutdown defense has offered hope in Pittsburgh. A loss on Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts dampened the early season excitement. But a 3-1 start is far better than most in Pittsburgh would have hoped for. Now is the time to make a move. Like the rest of the teams on this list, the wide receiver room in Pittsburgh is lacking. George Pickens (20 catches, 284 yards) is the unquestioned No. 1 option with no No. 2 in sight. No other Pittsburgh wide receiver has totaled double-digit receptions through the first four games of the season. Adams would offer a dramatic upgrade to a Steelers team looking to capitalize on a surprisingly strong start to the season. Dark horse: Kansas City ChiefsAfter an injury to Rashee Rice, the Chiefs are the team on this list with the most glaring need at wide receiver. They’re also the least likely to strike a deal. There’s no way the Raiders would consider helping their hated AFC West rivals and winners of three of the past five Super Bowls, right? Any team but the Chiefs would seem the most desirable option in Las Vegas. The Raiders are reportedly seeking a second-round draft pick to headline a package to part with Adams. Would a Chiefs team seeking a three-peat overpay to the point that the Raiders couldn’t say no? If Rice’s injury is season-ending, they’re desperate. Without Rice, rookie Xavier Worthy and Justin Watson would top the depth chart. And that doesn’t sound like the makeup of a Super Bowl winner, even with Patrick Mahomes throwing the ball. Vic Tafur of The Athletic on why Adams is as good as gone: Two and half years ago, the Las Vegas Raiders traded for Davante Adams. It was a big day. There might have been balloons. They gave up a first- and a second-round pick to get one of the elite receivers in the league, and some members of the media got pretty excited about it. But the Raiders never even sniffed the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl, and bad decisions and a general lack of success chipped away at the relationship to the point where Adams has most likely played his last game for the Silver and Black. According to a league source, Adams requested a trade on Monday, one day after the Raiders beat the Cleveland Browns without him. Adams was out with a hamstring injury, but apparently his feelings were hurt when coach Antonio Pierce liked an Instagram post insinuating Adams might be traded. Pierce hasn’t said whether or not that was a mistake; he is scheduled to speak to the media at 10 a.m. PT on Wednesday. But even if it was an accident, a trade would fix a problem with Pierce that has been lingering since training camp — and with the organization long before that. See, Adams and the Raiders were never on the same page. That covers two front-office regimes and six starting quarterbacks in Adams’ 37 games with the franchise. Adams signed off on the trade to the Raiders partly because he grew up a fan of the team in East Palo Alto, Calif. — but mostly because he wanted to play with his good friend and college quarterback at Fresno State, Derek Carr. General manager Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels not only traded two premium picks for Adams but gave Carr a contract extension and signed free-agent pass rusher Chandler Jones to signal they were all in. But … they weren’t. There were holes on the roster, and Ziegler and McDaniels soured on Carr to the point where they benched him for the last two games of the 2022 season. They wound up cutting the franchise’s all-time leader in passing yards without getting anything in return. Adams tried to say the right things, but he started to lose his patience when McDaniels brought in Jimmy Garoppolo to be the starting quarterback in 2023. Teammates have always loved Garoppolo, but this version — the one who failed a physical when he signed, needed foot surgery and then couldn’t deliver accurate passes — was hard for the six-time Pro Bowl receiver to stomach. A loss to the Detroit Lions the day before Halloween was the last straw for Adams, who slammed his helmet to the turf during the game, and, it turned out, for owner Mark Davis, who fired Ziegler and McDaniels the next day. Pierce, previously the linebackers coach, was promoted to interim head coach, and he immediately benched Garoppolo for rookie Aidan O’Connell. Adams had a camera crew following him around last season for the Netflix documentary “Receiver,” and his contention on the show that he “signed off” on the Garoppolo benching irked some in the Raiders’ building. (He would use the same phrase again after Gardner Minshew II beat out O’Connell for the starting quarterback job this August.) Adams and his family members also took some verbal shots at Garoppolo on the show. Some saw Adams putting himself before the team at times, and many teammates rolled their eyes at how he came across on the show. There was a lot of dramatic sulking and “me” talk instead of “we” talk that didn’t go over well when the program aired just before training camp this summer. Adams had talked about a “fresh slate” as recently as July, but during training camp and the preseason, it felt like something was off. Adams left the team during camp for the birth of his first son, and while the team thought it would be just for a couple of days, Adams was gone for 10. Then when he came back, he said he didn’t want to play in the second preseason game. (He hasn’t gotten his uniform dirty in the preseason since 2017.) Pierce was told of Adams’ preference the next day and replied, “No, if you’re healthy, you’ll play.” Guess who came up with an injury the next day? Adams does have a legitimate hamstring injury now and was unlikely to play Sunday against the Denver Broncos anyway. It’s unfortunate that many on social media thought he was making a “business decision,” thanks to comments Pierce made after an embarrassing Week 3 loss to the Carolina Panthers. The coach openly questioned his players’ effort — a mistake, he later admitted. And while Adams did not play well in that game, totaling just four receptions on nine targets for 40 yards, it seemed Pierce was instead referring to several defensive players (cornerback Jack Jones was benched for the first quarter against the Browns). To be clear, Pierce liking the Instagram post was another mistake. Regardless of his culpability or intent, that kind of thing simply can’t happen. I can’t imagine Andy Reid spending much of his free time on social media. “It’s always some sort of drama,” Adams said on his weekly paid appearance on the “Up & Adams” show. “But, at the end of the day, 17 doesn’t create any of it.” The Raiders have indeed been a ridiculous telenovela for two decades now, but Adams is no innocent victim. He has talked about his frustrations and the potential of reuniting with former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers regularly for two years now, and he may soon get his chance if the New York Jets offer the Raiders a second- or third-round draft pick. But you can’t really blame him. The Raiders were 6-11 in 2022 and 8-9 last season. This year, nine wins seem like a best-case scenario after a measured free-agent approach by new general manager Tom Telesco and some season-ending injuries on defense. Adams has had enough. And whether they trade him this week or closer to the Nov. 5 trade deadline, so have Pierce and the Raiders. |
| AFC SOUTH |
| HOUSTONWith the 3-1 Texans and WR STEFON DIGGS hosting unbeaten Buffalo, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com looks at how he got to Texas: Where it went wrong between Diggs and the Bills is not a question that yields a single answer from more than a dozen team, front office and industry sources ESPN contacted for this story. The player is famously mercurial. The team’s level of patience with his personality ebbed and flowed. The offense was headed in a different direction. The ratio of the impact of these three causes on Diggs’ exit depends on who’s doing the talking. And now comes a reunion between Diggs and Buffalo (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS) that will likely be professional on the surface. What lies beneath, only the principals can say. Diggs declined comment for this story, as did the Bills. But to be sure, this divorce did not come out of nowhere. “Tremendous player,” a team source said. “But the offense didn’t need him anymore.” THE 2020 DEAL that sent Diggs from Minnesota to Buffalo was just what Allen and the Bills needed. The multitalented Allen was heading into his third season and coming off a promising playoff year in 2019 but lacked a true alpha at receiver. Diggs filled that vacuum, establishing his place immediately in the Bills culture during the COVID-altered offseason of 2020 and setting the tone every day with his competitiveness and work ethic. If every receiver got one rep, Diggs wanted five. Diggs has been described by several sources as well-liked by teammates, sentiments that were apparent from his early days in Buffalo. Whether organizing a Thanksgiving turkey drive in the Buffalo area or playing catch with fans pregame, Diggs made his presence and example felt within the community and the locker room. Diggs’ arrival directly correlated with Allen’s vault into the top-tier quarterback conversation and the Bills’ transition from fringe playoff team to true contender. Though some of Allen’s gains can be explained by the natural maturation of a young quarterback, Allen’s improved numbers after Diggs’ arrival in Total QBR (from 50 to 71), completion percentage (56% to 66%) and touchdown-to-interception ratio (from 30 touchdowns, 21 interceptions to 137 touchdowns, 57 interceptions) were undeniably tied to the duo’s compatibility. For his part, Diggs’ star rose immediately with Allen as his quarterback — he was named a first-team All-Pro in 2020. The two appeared to have buddy-cop movie chemistry early on, sharing secret handshakes and laughs on the field. Allen went out of his way to praise Diggs in front of every microphone, heralding his No. 1 wideout’s impact on the field and his friendship off it. “I’ve been a big believer in off-field relationships paying dividends on the field. I think that ours kind of speaks volumes,” Allen said in 2021 about the Diggs relationship. “We get to hang out with each other a lot, and develop those types of bonds and relationships, and it shows up on the field.” In time, frustration would show up on the field as well, tied to the inability of the Bills to break through on the biggest stage. Late in an ugly 27-10 home loss to the Bengals in the 2022 playoffs, Diggs — limited to four catches on the day — could be seen animatedly addressing Allen on the sideline. He explained himself in a series of tweets that only deepened the intrigue: “Want me to be okay with losing ? Nah … Want me to be okay with our level of play when it’s not up to the standard ? Nah … It’s easy to criticize my reaction more than the result,” Diggs tweeted. The controversy ignited anew at the subsequent mandatory minicamp when coach Sean McDermott told reporters he was “very concerned” about Diggs not being present. The next day, McDermott clarified that he “gave Stef permission to get some space” after a conversation between the coach and star receiver. Diggs returned to practice that day. Theories about the core issue abounded at Bills team headquarters that day. One team source believed Diggs had grown frustrated with the late-season losses, had suggestions about improving the overall approach to winning that went beyond the specifics of his own role, and that his delivery on those thoughts might have gone poorly. When asked about that theme, a source close to Diggs said the receiver “got to the point where he figured, I’m here and they know what I can do, but if we’re losing, let me help.” “He’s super smart, and if you sugarcoat it with him and are not 100%, he’ll see through it,” the source said of Diggs’ approach. “And he remembers everything you say.” A separate team source cited the 2022 postseason departure of the team’s receivers coach, Chad Hall, as a point of contention. Diggs is close to Hall, whose contract was up after the 2022 season. Jacksonville offered him a promotion from wide receivers coach to passing game coordinator, which he accepted. The Bills replaced him with veteran coach Adam Henry. Regardless of Diggs’ intentions or the team’s handling of them, what a team source said felt like unspoken tension between the two sides for a while had gone public. The issue appeared to cool down after that, as Diggs remained the focal point of the offense with 73 catches through the first 10 games of the 2023 season. But Buffalo lost five of those games, and a 24-22 upset at the hands of Russell Wilson and the Broncos turned up the heat around the whole team. Diggs’ younger brother, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, tweeted “Man 14 Gotta get up outta there,” during the Monday night loss, a comment Stefon attempted to separate himself from later that week (“I’m not responsible for how other people feel,” Diggs said.). By then, McDermott had fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and promoted quarterbacks coach Joe Brady to the interim OC role. Brady immediately broke from Dorsey’s system that had rushed about 25 times per game the previous season. Brady instead called 155 rushing plays in the first four games (38.8 per game), culminating in a blowout of the Cowboys in which they ran 49 times. It was the team’s most running plays in a game since 2017. More importantly, it showed that an offense so reliant on Allen to run and throw — often to Diggs when he put it in the air — could adapt. Diggs’ four catches for 48 yards on five targets against Dallas might have looked like a minimal contribution within the box score, but what they said held significance beyond the numbers. “For a while it was, ‘No way we can play without this dude,'” a team source who was on the scene that night said about Diggs. “But I thought to myself, ‘Oh, maybe we can do this without him.'” Diggs remained a primary option, but his targets dipped from 102 over the first 10 games (10.2 per game) to 75 over the final nine (8.3 per game). Team sources say the run-oriented attack wasn’t about Diggs, but more about maximizing the overall personnel, involving several pass-catching options and setting more of a physical tone. But it signified a page-turn in philosophy and preference. “We still attempted to try to get him the ball,” a Bills personnel source said. “It’s more about philosophy, [Brady and McDermott’s] brand, what’s most effective holistically for the offense. Teams know where you’re going in terms of go-to guys. You have to spread that thing out, have flexibility.” Meanwhile, Diggs wasn’t saying much publicly — he was rarely available to the media at all — even if his frustration was privately mounting. The public story was about defenses doing more to take Diggs away than they had at any previous point in his Buffalo tenure. “I’m gonna be honest, it’s frustrating,” Diggs said before the win over the Cowboys. “I got to do a lot of things to get open and then a lot of things got to go right for me to get the ball. Y’all know how much of a competitor I am, and I like to play at a high level, and I always want it to happen and even if it doesn’t, when it doesn’t materialize, I definitely get a little discouraged at a moment, but then I got to shake back, cause I always look at it like, my team still needs me.” Diggs and Allen remained cordial and professional through the philosophical shift, team sources said. There wasn’t much more Diggs could say within the building, or in his public comments. The Bills were winning again. But his chance to switch uniforms for the third time in five years was looming. FROM AFAR, A team in the NFC North had seen this script before. “It all felt very familiar,” a high-ranking Vikings source from the Diggs era said. Coaches and scouts on the Minnesota staff during Diggs’ tenure there often refer to the “Diggs experience,” a roller coaster of on-field brilliance and off-field irritability that can elicit discomfort within the football building. After Minnesota drafted Diggs out of Maryland in 2015 — one of the notable fifth-round steals in modern NFL history — the team learned his competitive side could lead to frustration. The Vikings went to the playoffs three times during Diggs’ five years with the team, all under head coach (and noted Diggs fan) Mike Zimmer, and never finished with a losing record. But the very thing that made Diggs great — his belief that getting him the ball would help the team — was something Minnesota had to manage both on game day and throughout the week. “He needs to have someone he can talk to, listening to his concerns, work through what was bothering him, recognizing him as a voice,” a Vikings source who directly observed Diggs’ tenure there said. Multiple Vikings sources said that while the franchise considered Diggs’ desire to maximize his offensive impact to be mostly a positive, the team had to work to ensure it didn’t turn toxic within the building. Vikings brass spent significant time talking through issues with Diggs, realizing he just needed to vent sometimes. Diggs was known to be forceful when he did. And he shared the wide receiver room with another alpha, Adam Thielen, who also wanted the ball. To give then-quarterback Kirk Cousins peace on the sideline during games, coaches once situated the Vikings receivers apart from the quarterbacks and closer to the defensive benches, an ex-Vikings source said. “It can be a lot,” the source said. “He might throw his helmet. He will wear on your quarterback. But find me a premier receiver that’s not a diva. … And he works incredibly hard. That’s why coaches love him.” After five years that included a pair of 1,000-yard seasons, the Diggs-authored “Minneapolis Miracle” but also $200,000 in fines for unexcused absences from practices and meetings, the team and Diggs decided to part ways in what a Vikings-era source described as a mutual decision between player and team. (A separate team source made clear Diggs wanted out.) Minnesota dealt Diggs as part of a package that sent Buffalo’s first-round 2020 choice to the Vikings, a pick the team used to draft Justin Jefferson at 22nd overall. That source did not recall Buffalo asking for advice on how to manage Diggs’ personality in the trade process. “You always have to worry about how he feels,” a Bills team source said. “That wears on a locker room.” In 2023, four seasons since the trade from Minnesota to the Bills, the daily realities of Diggs weren’t confined to the football side of the building in Buffalo. The Bills dealt with a minor public relations crisis in September 2023 when a team employee who works as a reporter for the Bills’ website was heard on a livestream saying, “There’s no control over Stefon Diggs. Dude’s gonna do what he wants to do. He’ll look in my face and say f— you … that’s how he treats everybody.” The employee later apologized, and Diggs reacted to the controversy by tweeting: “The media or fans may confuse my competitiveness that they witness on the field as who I am as a person. But off the field I’d never treat anyone how she described & have never said anything remotely close to that to her.” The controversy abated, and the season continued. More than a year later, the team employee remains a reporter for the Bills’ website. The organization would come to a different decision about Diggs. AS HE FIELDED questions at his season-ending news conference, Bills general manager Brandon Beane was asked about Diggs’ production down the stretch, including a three-catch, 21-yard performance in a divisional round playoff loss at the Chiefs. “Stef’s … a No. 1 receiver. I firmly believe that, not wavering off of that,” Beane said. Left unspoken in that evaluation was how prominently Diggs factored into the Bills’ plans. Things were changing in Buffalo. Young offensive playmakers, including tight end Dalton Kincaid and running back James Cook, were growing in stature. The Bills faced roughly a $50 million salary cap deficit, forcing hard roster decisions. Word spread among player agents that Buffalo would be parting with high-priced, aging veterans, in part to brace for ballooning cap hits on Allen’s $258 million contract. Center Mitch Morse, corner Tre’Davious White and safety Jordan Poyer were released before free agency. Longtime safety Micah Hyde, who was contemplating retirement, was non-tendered. Buffalo had “no intention to ship [Diggs] away” originally, a team source said, but inquiries had been rampant even before the turbulent 2023 season, overtures the Bills rebuffed. Executives from several receiver-needy teams confirmed they did not hear from Buffalo this past offseason shopping Diggs — the Bills were on the hook for Diggs’ contract either way; there was no 2024 cap relief available by dealing him. While team sources were not able to confirm whether Diggs officially requested a trade, they agree Diggs was open to a change in scenery and an eventual trade was a mutual decision. “If he’s not happy somewhere, he’s smart enough to maneuver his way out,” a source close to Diggs said. Added a team source: “It’s a normal thing for veteran guys at that stage of his career to be attracted to something new. I think there was some attraction [to Houston] for him.” At the Pro Bowl Games in February, Diggs acknowledged “there’s a lot of changes going on” in Buffalo, and “I can’t tell you what the future holds, but I’m still being me.” Then came the cryptic tweets. “Ready for watever” on March 15; “Well….” a day later; “Being diligent” on March 25. Whether motivational fodder or coded trade talk, these messages felt eerily similar to his social media habits before he was traded from Minnesota. The belief in league circles is the Texans were committed to getting an established veteran receiver this offseason. They first tried with Keenan Allen, who was traded from the Los Angeles Chargers to the Chicago Bears on March 14. A source close to Allen said the Texans got “very close” to dealing for the receiver. Once that fell through, the Texans pivoted to Diggs. Word out of the Bills’ locker room started to trickle out in mid-March — in line with those vague Diggs tweets — that Houston was a possible destination. Those who know Texans general manager Nick Caserio were not surprised by this. He scours the market for opportunities, a Texans source said, using personnel meetings to discuss players that could be available due to a litany of factors. “I think [Caserio] saw the writing on the wall [with Diggs in Buffalo],” the source said. The Bills had several factors to navigate. They had to negotiate parameters of the deal. Houston and Diggs would also need to renegotiate his contract, wiping out the final three years to make him a 2025 free agent. Buffalo would need to grant permission for Diggs’ camp and the Texans to talk before a trade commenced. And a decision of this magnitude likely involved Josh Allen, at least indirectly. While the team’s exact communication with Allen about Diggs’ future with the team is unknown, one team source believes “[Allen is] at the point that they aren’t going to make any important moves like that without letting him know.” The trade was announced April 3, with the Bills receiving a 2025 second-round pick in exchange for Diggs, a 2024 sixth-round pick (later dealt to the Lions) and a 2025 fifth-round selection. One AFC executive called Buffalo “lucky” to get that kind of value for a 30-year-old receiver, considering the belief among some in the industry that Houston might have been the lone major player for his services at the stage the deal was made. Would Buffalo have dealt Diggs if it didn’t receive an offer as good as Houston’s? One team source was not aware of a hard line on hypothetical trade terms, another said it was the right time to move on and believes the parties probably would have found a way to part amicably — even if it meant Buffalo shopping Diggs more aggressively. It never came to that. Diggs called his experience in Houston “a breath of fresh air” when he met the media for the first time as a Texan in June. “You thrive in a space where you’re loved,” Diggs said. “Thrive in a space of being around those who truly care and truly want to see you win.” It took Diggs little time to leave behind the career-high seven-game touchdown-less streak he brought with him from Buffalo. He caught two touchdown passes from C.J. Stroud in a Week 1 win over the Colts. Through four weeks, Diggs is No. 3 on ESPN’s Receiver Scores list, a composite metric that distills a wide receiver’s ability to get open, make catches and accrue yards after the catch. The Texans are making Diggs’ place in the offense a priority in a way that wasn’t happening in his final days in Buffalo. Meanwhile, there’s Josh Allen. One day before he was traded in April, Diggs posed a pointed question to a social media user who expressed the opinion that Diggs was not essential to Allen’s success. “You sure?” Diggs fired back. Through four weeks, it appears the user was on to something. The Bills are 3-1, and Allen is an early MVP candidate who leads the league in QBR through his first four games of the post-Diggs era. And now comes Sunday’s reunion, which has been preceded by just a touch of the drama emblematic of the Diggs-Bills relationship. Allen made headlines after Buffalo’s 47-10 Week 3 win over the Jaguars when he said, “That’s the beauty of it when guys get to buy into this and really understand like I may not get the ball four or five times thrown to me a game but the one or two times I do, I’m going to have opportunities to be in the end zone. It’s a fun and wonderful thing when you got a bunch of guys that don’t care about the stats, they don’t care about the touchdowns.” Allen later clarified that “I’m not trying to tear down anybody” and referenced Diggs specifically when he said, “I love 14, I still do. But everyone wants to keep making this thing [the split] a thing. We’re so focused on what’s going on inside of our building and that’s the only thing we’re caring about right now.” The many league observers who have had this game circled since the NFL schedule release will understand if that focus is diverted this Sunday. After the Cowboys’ Week 4 win over the Giants, Trevon Diggs was sporting oversized black shades to battle the bright camera lights by his locker. Reporters were fixated on his perspective after the Cowboys cornerback helped Dallas knock off the New York Giants. Once the cameras shut off, a reporter reminded Diggs that Stefon’s Texans host the Bills in Week 5. “When is that game? Is it prime time?” asked Diggs, as if doing the math in his head to determine whether he needed to set the DVR. Actually, the Cowboys face the Steelers in Pittsburgh in prime time, while Buffalo and Houston kick off at 1 p.m ET. Trevon should be able to watch. Many are excited for that matchup, the reporter told him. Stefon’s younger brother arched an eyebrow and gave a knowing smile as he headed for the team bus. “Me too,” Trevon said. |
| JACKSONVILLEScott Kacsmar: @ScottKacsmarThe only interception Trevor Lawrence has thrown this year was to Damar Hamlin. But he is only completing 53.3% of his passes, which is unacceptable in 2024. |
| AFC EAST |
| BUFFALOThe NFL has suspended EDGE VON MILLER for a domestic violence incident last November, even though Texas authorities filed no charges: Buffalo Bills outside linebacker Von Miller has been suspended four games without pay for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. Miller will be eligible for reinstatement on Oct. 28 following the Bills’ Week 8 game against the Seattle Seahawks. The then-34-year-old Miller turned himself in to police in suburban Dallas on Nov. 30, 2023, after being accused by police of third-degree felony assault of a pregnant woman, which is punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was free after posting a $5,000 bond. The woman and Miller have been in a relationship for seven years and have two other children together. No charges were filed against Miller and he told reporters during training camp that he considered the case of him as being closed based on feedback he received from his legal representatives. Miller has appeared in all four games for the Bills this season and has recorded three sacks. |
| MIAMIQB TYLER HUNTLEY will get a 2nd start Sunday in Foxborough. NFL.com: Mike McDaniel hinted at potential changes for his reeling Miami Dolphins squad following Monday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans, but starting quarterback will not be something adjusted heading into Week 5. McDaniel told reporters on Tuesday that backup Tyler Huntley again will start in Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots as the Dolphins look to right their season with Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve for at least two more games due to a concussion. McDaniel also announced that veteran wide receiver Odell Beckham, who began the season the physically unable to perform list, will have his 21-day practice window opened this week. Huntley went 14-of-22 passing for 96 yards with an additional 40 yards and a touchdown on the ground in Miami’s disheartening 31-12 loss at Hard Rock Stadium during which fans booed the home team’s product. Huntley started Monday in place of Skylar Thompson, who started Week 3’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks but left early after suffering a rib injury. Thompson nor Huntley have been able to replicate Tagovailoa’s production this season, and McDaniel was asked on Tuesday if his offense was overly dependent on Tagovailoa’s skillset. “When you have adjustments to the lineup, people have to step up … we’re not getting that right now,” McDaniel said, per ESPN. “The bottom line is that it’s definitely not one person.” McDaniel told reporters that he believes the answers to the Dolphins’ issues are in-house and that there are “very concrete, direct conversations that need to be had” within the organization. “The bottom line is to play winning football, you have to have 11 people executing their jobs in a tied together fashion and it’s not happening,” McDaniel said. |
| NEW ENGLANDC DAVID ANDREWS is opting for season-ending shoulder surgery. ProFootballTalk.com: Patriots center David Andrews has made his decision about having shoulder surgery. Head coach Jerod Mayo said at the start of his Wednesday press conference that Andrews will have surgery to repair an injury he suffered in last Sunday’s loss to the 49ers. A report on Wednesday morning indicated that the surgery will end Andrews’s season and Mayo said that the center will probably be placed on injured reserve. Mayo said it is “definitely a big loss” to be without Andrews because of what the veteran brings to the offensive line as a leader. He said he expects Andrews will still be around the team after he has his operation. The loss of Andrews weakens an already iffy offensive line, but Mayo said that any decision to play rookie quarterback Drake Maye will be made “independent” of who is available on the offensive line. |
| NEW YORK JETSWR GARRETT WILSON with a shot at someone. Grant Gordon of NFL.com presumes it is OC Nathaniel Hackett: Through four games, the New York Jets are 21st in the NFL in points scored. They’re coming off a season-low nine-point showing in a loss to the Denver Broncos. Wide receiver Garrett Wilson isn’t all that enthused with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett’s scheme so far this season. “I don’t think we do a lot of different stuff to be honest,” Wilson told the Bart & Hahn podcast, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “I watch football on Sundays and I see a lot of teams mix it up and stuff like that. I don’t think we do that. I think we know our identity. It’s just about going out and executing it or figuring out if it’s going to work. I don’t think we’re trying a lot of different things.” Wilson’s coming off a particularly frustrating Sunday in which he was targeted eight times by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but came up with just five receptions for 41 yards, having failed to register more than 60 yards in a game this season. The 2022 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year lined up against Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II on 28 of his 46 routes and had two catches for 22 yards with Surtain in coverage, per Next Gen Stats. Wilson’s of the belief that that he’s not being bestowed the opportunities to succeed, it would seem. “I know, personally, my route tree hasn’t been what it has been the last two years as far as the stuff I’ve been running,” Wilson said. “It’s just about figuring out if it’s the right identity and whether it’s going to win games.” New York’s offense is 18th in EPA (expected points added) per offensive play (-0.07) and 15th in EPA per pass (-0.03). Aside from a 400-yard showing a Week 3 win over the New England Patriots, the Jets offense hasn’t topped 266 yards of offense in any other game. It was all sunshine and rainbows in the summer of 2023 when Rodgers came to town, but all the pleasantries came crashing to the cold, hard ground when the four-time AP NFL MVP tore his Achilles in the Jets’ season opener. Optimism rang again this year with Rodgers coming back healthy. However, the offensive product thus far has been underwhelming aside from the win over the Patriots, which has been an outlier, at least so far. Wilson has pulled in a team-high 20 receptions for 191 yards and a touchdown over his first four full games with Rodgers as his quarterback. In comparison, though, when Wilson nor the Jets offense was lighting it up last season, the wideout still had better numbers through his first four games — hauling in 21 catches for 225 yards and two TDs. At 2-2 and in second place in the AFC East, things could certainly be worse for the Jets, but this is bound to stir things up. Hackett was Rodgers’ OC from 2019-2021 in Green Bay, with the two combining to form a top-10 offense in each of their final two seasons during that span. Since leaving the Packers, though, Hackett was a bust as the Broncos’ head coach in 2022 and has been met with a whole lot of scrutiny in New York. This certainly won’t help. Next up for the Jets is a meeting with their former first-round selection, Sam Darnold, and the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday in London. Wilson’s comments should make for some interesting in-flight conversation. Mike Florio expounds: He’s clearly the most potent and capable weapon in the passing game. But Allen Lazard, who ultimately was a healthy scratch last year without Rodgers around, has gotten plenty of attention through four games. Even though Wilson is the far better option. During the Week 1 ManningCast, Bill Belichick’s high-level, Professor of Football analysis of the New York offense consisted of saying, more than once, just throw it to Garrett Wilson. Wilson knows it. We all know it. And if the Jets were 3-1 or 4-0, it wouldn’t be an issue. But they’re 2-2, showing the signs of a team that will be up and down all year, winning and losing and losing and winning and ultimately playing the “win the last two and get some help” game in order to secure a spot in the wild-card round. That can change, obviously. If Rodgers consistently plays like he did in Week 3 against the Patriots, the Jets will be fine. If he consistently plays like he did on Sunday against the Broncos, they won’t be fine. If he does some of both, they might be fine. And they might not be fine. Up next, we’ll see how Rodgers performs in the face of the aggressive and unpredictable blitz packages from the Vikings in a stand-alone, Sunday morning game from London. Either they’ll fly home at 3-2 after toppling one of the last two unbeaten teams and feeling pretty good about themselves or they’ll be 2-3 and still searching for answers as they prepare for a Monday night visit from the Bills, followed by a Sunday night trip to Pittsburgh. We actually looked up the Jets targets leaders – and Wilson has more than 8 per game: 1 Garrett Wilson 34 2t Allen Lazard 24 2t Breece Hall 24 4 Tyler Conklin 18 Wilson’s 34 targets are tied for 9th in the NFL: 1 Malik Nabers 52 2 Nico Collins 43 3 Diontae Johnson 39 4t Amon-Ra St. Brown 38 4t Wan’Dale Robinson 38 6 Amari Cooper 37 7t Courtland Sutton 36 7t DK Metcalf 36 9t Garrett Wilson 34 9t DJ Moore 34 9t Chris Godwin 34 12t Jaxon Smith-Njigba 33 12t Stefon Diggs 33 14 CeeDee Lamb 32 15 Drake London 31 16t Tyreek Hill 30 16t Jerry Jeudy 30 Names that aren’t even on the list include Justin Jefferson and Mike Evans. Seriously, there seems to be no shortage of targets for Garrett Wilson. |
| THIS AND THAT |
| PLAYER POLLMike Jones of The Athletic compiles the result of a poll of 110 NFL players: Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He has all of the desirable traits one could ask for in a quarterback: size, a cannon of an arm, elite-level athleticism, keen instincts, strong leadership traits and an intense competitive fire. Ever since he ascended to a full-time starter role during his second season in Buffalo (2019), Allen has made the Bills a contender, having carried them to double-digit wins and perennial playoff berths. Allen consistently ranks among the league’s passing leaders and annually draws consideration for Pro Bowl honors. But thus far, aside from a Super Bowl victory, one distinct honor has eluded Allen: the title of Most Valuable Player. The seventh-year veteran has garnered votes for both MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, but has always finished behind rivals like Patrick Mahomes (twice) and Lamar Jackson (twice). However, because of his all-around dominant level of play, many of Allen’s peers predict that his wait for his first MVP could soon end. Allen was the leading vote-getter when NFL players were asked, as part of The Athletic’s second anonymous player poll, to name who would join Mahomes, Jackson and Aaron Rodgers to become the next active player to win an MVP award. That trio has combined to win the last six MVPs, with each player winning twice. Tom Brady in 2017 was the last player other than those three to win an MVP; no other active player has won the award. The Athletic’s NFL beat writers conducted the poll in August and September. Reporters asked 110 players the same set of questions, though not every player answered every question. They were granted anonymity to freely offer their opinions on opponents, coaches, NFL rules, playing surfaces and more. The results are as follows … Who will be the next active NFL player to win his first MVP award? JOSH ALLEN 17.6%JOE BURROW 15.7%CHRISTIAN McCAFFREY 10.8%C.J. STROUD 7.8%JORDAN LOVE 5.9% Allen, with 18 votes, received his props from peers across the league. He led the Bills to a 3-0 start this season before falling Sunday night to the Baltimore Ravens. He’s sporting a career-best completion percentage of 69.3, has seven touchdown passes, no interceptions and two rushing touchdowns. He had close competition as the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow finished just two votes behind, followed by San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (11 votes) in third. But a lot of players like Allen to earn some hardware. “I feel like he’s due for one,” one player who picked Allen said. “I don’t know when, but he’s going to get one.” Added another: “Josh should have won it the year (2023) Lamar did. If you look at any stat in that category, put them together, tell me how that worked out. I don’t get it.” Said a third, “Josh Allen. It should be a defensive player, but it won’t be.” If a defensive player were to take home the honor, who would it be? The Las Vegas Raiders’ Maxx Crosby and Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett both received votes. Other non-quarterbacks receiving votes included the Atlanta Falcons’ Bijan Robinson, Philadelphia Eagles’ Saquon Barkley and Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill. If you were to start an NFL team from scratch, who is the first non-quarterback you would draft? TYREEK HILL 14.6%JUSTIN JEFFERSON 13.1%MYLES GARRETT 11.2%MICAH PARSONS 10.7% As the NFL has evolved into a pass-happy league over the last two decades, a game-changing wide receiver has become essential. Understanding this, the players polled chose Hill (15 votes) and the Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson (13 1/2 votes) as their building blocks. Hill’s impact on the game is undeniable. After helping the Kansas City Chiefs win a Super Bowl, he went to Miami, where he helped elevate Tua Tagovailoa to one of the NFL’s top passers and the Dolphins to the playoffs the past two seasons. Hill has recorded 1,700-plus receiving yards in back-to-back seasons and in 2023 led the league in yards (1,799) and receiving touchdowns (13). “Tyreek Hill,” one player said definitively. “When I play Madden, that’s who I use.” Another argued, “Got to take the highest-paid non-quarterback, and that’s Justin Jefferson.” Pass rushers also garnered a great deal of consideration and respect. Garrett finished third in the voting with 11 1/2 votes while the Dallas Cowboys’ do-it-all linebacker Micah Parsons finished fourth with 11 votes. “That’s a great question. … I think Micah Parsons is a solid choice,” one player said. “I think that as a defensive lineman, he’s very versatile. You put him inside, outside, he can cover guys. So, kind of got a bit of a Swiss Army knife on defense.” (Best Road Trip was Los Angeles, worst Green Bay – but we include the answers for Pittsburgh as the worst): “I would say Pittsburgh, because it smells like piss in their locker room,” one player said. “Pittsburgh. Even though it’s my vibe: tough. It’s just always gray and s—ty weather there,” another added. |
