Stefon Diggs teams timeline: How Josh Allen's favorite target with Bills ended up with Patriots

Dan Treacy

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Stefon Diggs teams timeline: How Josh Allen's favorite target with Bills ended up with Patriots image

Josh Allen ushered in a golden era of Buffalo Bills football as soon as the 2010s turned into the 2020s, but the role Stefon Diggs played in upgrading the franchise's offense can't be ignored.

Diggs arrived in Buffalo through a trade with the Minnesota Vikings in 2020 and spent four seasons as Allen's go-to receiver, posting more than 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns each year as a focal point of the offense. 

Both Allen and Diggs admitted they had some communication issues toward the end of their time together in the AFC East, but on the field, the results were persistently there. Now, Diggs is playing for an AFC East rival and facing his old teammate twice each year. 

Here's a look at Diggs' career timeline, from Minnesota to New England.

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Stefon Diggs teams timeline

Minnesota Vikings

Diggs was a standout at Maryland, but scouts wondered if he would be more of a gadget player than a legitimate starter in the NFL. He slipped to the fifth round of the 2015 draft, where the Vikings ended his slide at No. 146 overall.

Diggs was a contributor from year one, recording 720 yards on 52 catches as a rookie and signing an extension in 2018 after three solid seasons next to Adam Thielen in Minnesota. He finished his Vikings tenure with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with Kirk Cousins as his quarterback, emerging as a player capable of being a legitimate No. 1 receiver in the NFL.

The most memorable moment of Diggs' Vikings tenure and NFL career came in the 2017 divisional round, when he took a pass from Case Keenum all the way into the end zone with zeros on the clock and sent Minnesota to the NFC championship game.

After five seasons and some frustration on Diggs' end in his final campaign with the Vikings, Minnesota traded its star to the Bills near the start of free agency.

Buffalo Bills

Diggs and the Bills proved to be a perfect fit from the very start. Diggs put together his most productive season to date with an NFL-leading 1,535 yards in 2020, helping Buffalo reach the AFC championship game, and he remained Allen's top target with more than 100 receptions in each of the next three seasons. Diggs totaled 5,372 yards and 37 touchdowns in only four seasons in Buffalo, though he averaged six fewer yards per game in the playoffs with 600 in eight contests.

Questions about Diggs' relationship with Allen and his satisfaction with his role followed the Bills into the 2023 season, after Diggs left the stadium within minutes of Buffalo losing a playoff game to the Bengals a year earlier.

While Allen admitted he had some communication issues with Diggs, the two sides insisted all issues had been worked out by the time the season began. Diggs put up 1,183 yards and eight touchdowns in his final season with the Bills, but his role started to fade late in the year after newly-promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady leaned more heavily on the running game.

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Houston Texans

The Bills traded Diggs to the Texans in 2024, ending a four-year partnership at a time when it seemed sensible to move on. Diggs would only play eight games in Houston before suffering a torn ACL.

The veteran posted 496 yards and three touchdowns before the injury, which most believed would mark the end of his brief tenure with the Texans. A few short months later, Diggs became a free agent for the first time.

New England Patriots

Diggs' free agent market appeared to move slowly early on as he recovered from the ACL injury, but he and the Patriots agreed to a three-year deal with limited guarantees about two weeks after the start of free agency.

Diggs recovered in time to play Week 1 for New England, giving Drake Maye a legitimate weapon to work with and recording his first 100-yard game as a Patriot in a Week 4 win over the Carolina Panthers.

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Stefon Diggs career stats

SeasonTeamGamesRec.YardsTDY/R
2015Vikings1352720413.8
2016Vikings1384903310.8
2017Vikings1464849813.3
2018Vikings151021,021910
2019Vikings15631,130617.9
2020Bills161271,535812.1
2021Bills171031,2251011.9
2022Bills161081,4291113.2
2023Bills171071,183811.1
2024Texans864496310.6
2025Patriots422213011.2
Career 14887610,7047012.1

Diggs crossed the 10,000-yard mark early in his only season with the Texans and has 70 touchdowns through parts of 11 seasons.

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Stefon Diggs career highlights

While some of Diggs' most productive years came in a Bills uniform, nothing will top his "Minneapolis Miracle" touchdown that gave the Vikings a stunning last-second win over the New Orleans Saints in the 2017 divisional round.

Diggs' four highest single-game yardage totals came with the Vikings, including a career-high 182 yards in a win over the Green Bay Packers in 2016. Diggs topped out at 162 yards in Buffalo, also recording three three-touchdown games with the Bills.

Here's a taste of what Allen's connection with Diggs looked like at its finest.

Dan Treacy

Dan Treacy is a content producer for Sporting News, joining in 2022 after graduating from Boston University. He founded @allsportsnews on Instagram in 2012 and has written for Lineups and Yardbarker.