Pat Leonard’s NFL Notes: Stefon Diggs Bills drama is as much about Sean McDermott as his wide receiver

Discord is threatening to dethrone one of the AFC’s titans.

The Buffalo Bills have a 37-12 record the past three regular seasons. They’ve won three straight AFC East titles. They played in one conference championship game and were 13 seconds away from reaching another.

But head coach Sean McDermott can kiss that run goodbye if he doesn’t fix the underlying issues behind this week’s Stefon Diggs drama that all started, it appears, because of McDermott’s own rhetoric about his star wide receiver.

One day, Diggs was absent from the Bills’ minicamp practice and McDermott was confirming: “Stef is not here. Everybody else is here at the current time.”

Asked if he was concerned, McDermott said: “Very concerned. yeah. Very concerned.”

Only Diggs was there, apparently.

His agent released a statement to ESPN after McDermott’s press conference saying that “Diggs has been in Buffalo since yesterday morning, took his physical, met with the head coach and GM the past two days, and will be there for the entirety of the minicamp.”

Something was off, which quarterback Josh Allen confirmed.

“I know internally we’re working on some things, not football related,” Allen said. “Stef, he’s my guy. I f—king love him. He’s a brother of mine. This does not work, what we’re doing here, without him… I’ve got no doubts that we will figure out what’s going on… There’s things I could do better to help out with this process and try to get him back here.”

Diggs did end up back on the field at a minicamp practice, catching passes from Allen. And McDermott held a follow-up presser to “provide better clarity for all.”

“Stef did everything that he was asked to do,” McDermott said. “He was here Monday and executed his physical on time. Stef reported yesterday, Tuesday, and reported for meetings, at which time we had a good conversation, great communication, and we got to a point yesterday where I just — we just felt like we all needed a break and some space.

“So I gave Stef permission to get some space and head out, and then picked up those conversations after practice,” McDermott added. “So let me make it clear: it was not Stef leaving unexcused. He was excused by me. So those conversations have gotten us to where I think is a great spot.”

A great spot? That’s some quality NFL spin right there.

That’s probably not the appropriate description of a franchise that, despite its recent success of roster-building and regular season winning, has started to show plenty of concerning cracks in recent years. And it goes way above Diggs.

Consider this: The offseason that Brian Daboll got the Giants head coaching job, it is believed that Daboll was planning to leave the Bills’ offensive coordinator post regardless due to the untenable situation in Buffalo.

Then this offseason, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier stepped away from McDermott’s staff to take a year off — but not because he wanted to stop coaching.

Granted, McDermott just led the Bills to a 13-3 record last season, guided his team through the Damar Hamlin scare, and still has one of the better teams on paper thanks to GM Brandon Beane’s drafting of Allen in 2018.

Diggs can be a challenging personality, too. And certainly, after seeing Diggs screaming at Allen during Buffalo’s 27-10 divisional playoff loss to Cincinnati, it’s fair to guess that the wide receiver remains frustrated with the lack of his involvement in this team’s biggest games.

Here are Diggs’ numbers in the Bills’ two elimination games the past two years: Three catches for seven yards against the Kansas City Chiefs in January 2022. Four catches for 35 yards against the Bengals in January 2023.

With Diggs’ $14.8 million cap hit this year that jumps to $27.8 million in 2024, the Bills simply cannot rationalize that usage of him when their season is on the line.

Above all, though, what all of the Buffalo noise the last few years seems to have in common is some sort of friction with McDermott.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Free agent wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins visited the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots this week but still hasn’t signed with any team. … Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, who hasn’t signed his franchise tag tender, tweeted: “Sometimes it’s not about you. We gotta do it for the ones after us.” Saquon Barkley hasn’t signed his franchise tag either and said recently that a holdout might be an option, and he referenced Jacobs and Cowboys RB Tony Pollard’s getting tagged as a way that NFL teams have suppressed the position’s market. Then Ravens back JK Dobbins staged a ‘hold in’ at Baltimore’s mandatory minicamp, reporting to the building but not practicing because he wants a new contract, according to WJZ-TV in Baltimore. It will be interesting to see whether this coordinated effort by some big names at running back will help them achieve more for themselves and others in the future.

GIANTS ROUNDUP: BIG YEAR FOR BIG CAT

Defensive lineman Leonard Williams said there haven’t been many talks about his contract or $32.2 million cap hit this season, but he added: “I want to be able to be here.” The problem is that won’t be his call. Williams, 28, looked like an obvious candidate to possibly receive a pay cut or contract restructure this spring. With the Giants not moving a single dollar past the final year of his current deal, the writing is on the wall that Williams’ time here could be up after 2023, if not through a midseason trade depending on how the team fares. Williams said he likes the “great rotation” of D-line depth the Giants have tried to create behind him and Dexter Lawrence to hopefully reduce their snaps and keep them fresh. He also said the neck injury that nagged him late last season is better and didn’t require surgery. He hopes to bounce back from the first injury-plagued year of his career and convince the Giants he still belongs. “It’s going to be fun,” he said. “I’ve been through the grind and the struggle of being with the Giants since I’ve been here. [Now I’m hoping I’m] coming out on the good end, eventually getting a ring with them.” … Rookie third-round wide receiver Jalin Hyatt was noticeably buried on the depth chart all spring. The Tennessee product will face an uphill climb, it appears, to earn the coaches’ trust to receive meaningful snaps. For now, he’s probably projecting as a specialized and situational downfield threat until he develops more. His training camp will be interesting to watch. … It sounds like corner Adoree Jackson is expected to be OK after The Athletic noticed Jackson injure his left ankle on a deep pass to Parris Campbell at Wednesday’s final Giants spring practice. … Eli Manning hosted the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Annual Golf Classic last Monday at Mount Kisco Country Club to support those with vision loss and impairment. The two-time Super Bowl Champion is a long-time supporter of Guiding Eyes, which provides expertly-trained guide dogs to people with visual impairment, at no cost, allowing individuals and families to experience greater independence. The golf outing and dinner program was filled with golf, food & prizes and, of course, amazing pups.

THEY SAID IT

“It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Costanza quits his job on a Friday and shows up on Monday pretending that nothing happened.” — Mike Florio of “ProFootballTalk” on McDermott’s about-face handling the Diggs absence

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