The Buffalo Bills shockingly traded Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans on April 3, ending a high-scoring era and breaking up one of the best quarterback-wide receiver tandems in the NFL. This left Josh Allen without a defined go-to weapon.
While Diggs didn’t spend an eternity in Buffalo, he was still there for four highly productive seasons, topping 1,000 yards and making the playoffs all four years. Yet, the Bills clearly aren’t caught up in the past. As if their trade wasn’t enough evidence, Buffalo is more than ready 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, trying to see if Josh Allen can get more out of the 6-foot-4 wideout than the Steelers, Bears, and Dolphins could. That’s fine. Teams routinely take chances on low-risk, high-reward players. It’s all part of building the best roster possible while keeping cap constraints in mind.
What we didn’t expect was the Bills already issuing No. 14 to another player, let alone another receiver, less than a month after Diggs was sent packing. Yet, that’s exactly what the Bills have done here, handing Claypool Diggs’ old number.
Now, Bills Mafia can tape over Diggs’ name on their No. 14 jersey and write in Claypool if they so choose. Then again, considering he might not even make the roster, fans might want to wait before hopping on the Claypool bandwagon too.
Not to mention, just because Claypool has the No. 14 now, his jersey could change one Buffalo starts paring down the talent pool from 90 players down toward their target of 53, and Claypool might even become part of that annual roster crunch.
Related: Are the Buffalo Bills still a playoff team after the Stefon Diggs trade?