Bills Predicted To Do 'Major Surgery' on Stefon Diggs Contract: 'He Will Not Be Happy!'
After coming up short once again in the playoffs, the Buffalo Bills are staring yet another long and difficult offseason in the face.
In addition to the usual events of the offseason like free agency and the draft, the Bills also have to deal with the not-so-small problem of being roughly $50 million over next season's salary cap. They have options to create some sorely-needed cap flexibility, but it won't be easy to get there.
One of said options is restructuring the contract of star receiver Stefon Diggs, but it comes with a risk of upsetting their top pass-catcher. According to NFL insider Peter King, though, that may be a risk the Bills have to take.
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"I think Buffalo GM Brandon Beane has some big decisions to make, maybe none bigger than what to do with Stefon Diggs," King wrote. "Diggs is 30. He’s due for a cap number of $27.9 million next year, which, for a player who didn’t have a 100-yard receiving day in the Bills’ last 13 games, is quite excessive... I expect the Bills to want to do major surgery on Diggs’ deal, and I expect Diggs to not be happy about it."
Diggs finished the season with 107 catches for 1,183 yards and eight touchdowns, but the second half of the year may have been the worst stretch of his career. He did not have a 100-yard game after Week 6, and his yards per game plummeted from 93.5 to 48.3 the rest of the year. He was also practically invisible in the Bills' Divisional Round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, catching three passes for just 21 yards.
With Diggs' production seemingly on the downturn and him now being on the wrong side of 30, paying him such a massive cap hit is certainly not ideal.
According to Over The Cap, the Bills could save over $13 million in cap space by restructuring Diggs' deal. In addition to possibly upsetting Diggs, though, the Bills would also be pushing that money forward, which could create future cap problems.
Diggs has never been afraid to speak up, so if a restructure would upset him, he probably wouldn't hesitate to make his grievances known. Hopefully for both parties, it doesn't come to that point.
