On April 3, the Buffalo Bills shocked the NFL by trading Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans, ending a high-scoring era and tearing up one of the top quarterback-wide receiver tandems in the league. This left Josh Allen without a clear go-to weapon.
While Diggs did not stay in Buffalo for an eternity, he did enjoy four highly fruitful seasons there, accumulating over 1,000 yards and making the playoffs each year. However, the Bills are definitely not caught up in the past. As if their trade wasn’t enough indication, Buffalo is eager to move on from their former All-Pro receiver.
On Friday, the Bills signed former second-round pick Chase Claypool to a one-year contract, hoping that Josh Allen can get more out of the 6-foot-4 wideout than the Steelers, Bears, and Dolphins could. That is OK. Teams frequently take risks on low-risk, high-reward players. All of this is part of the process of assembling the greatest roster possible while staying within budget.
We didn’t anticipate the Bills to issue No. 14 to any player, let alone another receiver, less than a month after Diggs was released. Yet, that is exactly what the Bills have done here, giving Claypool Diggs his old number.
The Bills Mafia can now tape over Diggs’ name on their No. 14 jersey and write Claypool’s name instead. However, given the possibility that he would not make the squad, fans may want to wait before jumping on the Claypool bandwagon.
Not to add, just because Claypool currently wears No. 14, his jersey might alter as Buffalo begins to pare down the talent pool from 90 players to 53, and Claypool could potentially become part of that annual roster crunch.
