The Buffalo Bills traded WR Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans in 2024. After they lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2022 divisional playoffs by 27-10, Diggs had a sideline spat with the QB Josh Allen. Things looked fine before the 2023 season, but they weren’t. After they lost the season opener against the New York Jets, Allen refused to talk to Diggs, “It’s one f**king game.”

The QB made his feelings toward the star WR known while talking to reporters after training camp in 2024. While answering questions about Diggs, he said, “Miss is, I don’t know if I would say miss.” Though he acknowledged that they will miss WR’s skills on the field, but indicated that the team has moved on. His comments have made analysts take notice of the duo.

In the absence of Stefon Diggs, Josh Allen is poised to follow Cam Newton’s path

Discussing QB’s comments on the First Take First podcast on the 9th of August, veteran analyst Nick Wright said Allen was gracious and Diggs would struggle more than the QB. He predicted the Winter Soldier should follow the path of Carolina Panthers‘ former QB Cam Newton. He noted, “Here is the path I think for Josh. I know you like to say he’s a modern-day Brett Favre and I push back against it. I actually think he has more similarities to the best of Cam Newton. ” The season he’s referring to here is 2015 when the Panthers finished the regular season 15-1 before losing the Super Bowl to the Denver Broncos.

The analyst compared the team combinations w.r.t QBs saying that the Panthers didn’t have a star WR that season. Yet Newton formed a running play with WRs Ted Ginn Jr., Jerricho Cotchery, Devin Funches, and TE Greg Olsen. Similarly, the Bills QB will have to work with his TEs and RB James Cook in a running play style. He then stated that Allen’s performance has been better than (or identical to) Newton’s (in his best season in 2015). Here’s a brief comparison.

Allen outperformed Newton in 2020 with 37 passing touchdowns and in 2021 with 763 rushing yards. But Newton succeeded in taking the Panthers to the Super Bowl. He was MVP that year. Something Allen has not been able to do that. Despite playing in the playoffs last 5 seasons, the Bills haven’t reached the Super Bowl. Will they be able to do that without their star WR? Allen will certainly have that thing in mind. But according to Wright, Diggs will have a more challenging season.

Stefon Diggs’ 2024 season with Houston Texans wouldn’t be good: Nick Wright

While talking about the WR, Wright pointed out that his performance was going to go down significantly in 2024. Barring his rookie season in 2015, Diggs has found a place in the Top 10 WRs based on receptions. Noting this, the analyst added, “I think Stefon not only is not going to be the leader of the league in terms of targets. I don’t think he’s going to be a leader in his own team in targets and I think his targets literally could be cut in half.” Pretty strong statement there!

Texans are playing with CJ Stroud, who’s in his second year. The QB did fairly well in his rookie year, with 4,108 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. He managed to take the Texans to the playoffs, where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens. Diggs and Stroud may take time to get used to each other. Allen, too, was only 2 years in the league when Diggs arrived at Bills in 2020. In 4 seasons with the franchise, he had more than 100 receptions each year. Thus, they say that the WR does have experience working with a new QB.

This year will be all about forming that deadly combination with Stroud. When he arrived at Texans, he called it, “a breath of fresh air.” But he’s also an emotional player and could have outbursts under pressure. If he can control them, the results can be phenomenal.