Stefon Diggs talks being Bills captain after rumor-filled offseason

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs reacted Thursday to being named a team captain for the third consecutive season. 

"For me, it means more now than it did when I was, my first time ever being named a captain," Diggs said while comparing his experience in 2021 to how he feels this summer, per Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN. "Just the consistency of it, the respect from your peers. I know the biggest thing for me is always earning the respect from my teammates, earning the respect from my coaches, and when you get named a captain, that's like reassurance, like, you might be halfway decent at what you do, you know what I'm saying? Not just professionally, but as far as, like, how you represent yourself and who you are as a man."

The Bills fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game to end Diggs' first season (2020) with the organization and haven't yet returned to the conference title contest. The 29-year-old went viral when he seemed to confront quarterback Josh Allen during the playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals this past January, and Diggs later generated headlines when he expressed frustrations over the club's postseason exits. 

That was only the beginning. Diggs was officially excused from the start of mandatory minicamp amid rumors he may want more of a say in Buffalo's offensive planning, but he insisted in July that "all is well in the mafia household." Diggs and Allen both have poured cold water over suggestions that their relationship is damaged heading into the campaign. 

"...With everything that went on as far as, like, with the offseason and everything going into this season, it's just, like...blocking out the noise," Diggs said Thursday. "...It's been one of those offseasons, like, it's been a lot of chatter. It kind of was an ongoing thing, but you block out the noise, you focus on football, you focus on your team, and you focus on the guys around you." 

Earlier this month, Diggs took to social media to say a report about him wanting out of Buffalo is "100% not true." On Thursday, he referred to teammates in the locker room as "damn near like your loved ones." 

As of Thursday afternoon, OddsChecker listed the Bills as second among the betting favorites at +500 odds to play in Super Bowl LVIII. Perhaps the drama that hovered over the club throughout the spring and summer months will serve as extra motivation for a team that may be running out of time to win a championship with this particular core intact.