Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images
The Texans’ trade for Stefon Diggs is the cherry on top of a perfect offseason.
The economics of the current NFL have provided teams with one pathway towards instant success:
Draft a rookie quarterback, hope he has success, and use the rookie-contract window to build around them.
The model was provided by the Seattle Seahawks as they built around Russell Wilson in his early years, assembling a team that included the “Legion of Boom” on defense en route to a Super Bowl title. In recent years a number of teams have advanced to the Super Bowl with quarterbacks on rookie deals, including the Philadelphia Eagles with Jalen Hurts, the Cincinnati Bengals with Joe Burrow, and the Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes, Hurts, and Burrow have since signed long-term deals, but the point remains.
The latest team to follow this trend? The Houston Texans, who on Wednesday made a stunning move in trading for Stefon Diggs, a move that not only gives second-year passer C.J. Stroud another target in the passing game, but cements the Texans as the winners of the offseason.
Consider what the Texans have accomplished so far this spring.
The first big move was signing pass rusher Danielle Hunter to a two-year deal worth up to $49 million. That is a hefty price tag for a veteran pass rusher, but consider the fact that Hunter will be paired with another second-year player, Will Anderson Jr., for those two seasons. Those bookend pass rushers will give DeMeco Ryans a lot of options to attack the opposing passer these next two years.
Plus, the two year deal ends right around the time Houston will have to consider a long-term extension for Stroud.
But Hunter was not the only big addition for the Texans, and not the only addition on the edge. Houston also added Denico Autry in free agency on another two-year deal, giving the defense another presence off the edge. Between Autry and Hunter, the Texans added 30 sacks from a season ago.
Beyond the duo of pass rushers, Houston also added defensive tackles Foley Fatukasi and Tim Settle, linebackers Azeez Al-Shaair — who played for Ryans in San Francisco — and Del’Shawn Phillips, cornerbacks Jeff Okudah (a former first-round selection himself) and Mike Ford, and safety Lonnie Johnson Jr.
On the offensive side of the football, the biggest move was adding Joe Mixon via a trade. Houston acquired the 27-year-old running back for a seventh-round pick.
Last season Mixon was eighth in the NFL with 1,034 rushing yards, and tied for ninth in the league with nine rushing touchdowns.
Also, consider who the Texans were able to re-sign over the past month. A number of their key contributors were set to hit free agency, such as tight end Dalton Schultz, defensive tackle Khalil Davis, and wide receiver Noah Brown, but all three players are headed back to Houston.
Schultz’s return in particular is important, as he developed an early chemistry with the rookie passer a season ago. Schultz caught 59 passes for 635 yards and 5 touchdowns a season ago, and was second on the team with 88 targets, behind only Nico Collins.
All of these moves led many to view the Texans as the winners of the offseason, and all of those moves happened before today.
Now we get to Diggs.
In the coming days much will be written and said about the end of his time in Buffalo with the Bills. Leaving that to the side for the moment, Diggs now gets paired with Stroud, and the Texans will hope he will have the same impact on the young quarterback as Diggs did in Buffalo, when he helped Josh Allen’s development into the quarterback he is today. In his first year in Buffalo, the 2020 campaign, Diggs caught 127 passes for 1,535 yards and 8 touchdowns, with the receptions and yardage numbers still representing career highs. Buffalo won the AFC East, that season, and advanced to the AFC Championship Game before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs.
For his part Allen also enjoyed a jump in production, throwing for over 4,000 yards for the first time in his career. Allen finished the season having completed 69.2% of his passes (which is still a career-best mark) for 4,544 yards and 37 touchdowns.
Both of those also remain career-high numbers.
Allen also finished second in MVP voting — his best finish ever — and was a second-team All-Pro selection.
As for how Diggs will fit into the Houston offense, with the talent around him, defenses will face some difficult decisions. He’ll slide into a wide receiver room that already contains Collins, Brown, Robert Woods, John Metchie III, and another second-year player in Tank Dell who had his own chemistry with Stroud. In fact, Stroud himself lobbied for the team to draft Dell to begin with, a request that paid off to the tune of 47 receptions for 709 yards and seven touchdowns, before Dell suffered a season-ending injury.
While it is true that Diggs saw his numbers decline after a strong start to 2023 — after eclipsing 100 receiving yards in five of Buffalo’s first six games last year he did not hit that mark again — with that kind of talent around him, Diggs might see a lot of one-on-one opportunities. That could open the door to another big season for him, on par with how his 2023 began.
Even before this trade, the Texans were viewed as the winners of the offseason.
But with this addition — and the hopes that Stroud could see a similar jump in production as Allen did when Diggs arrived in Buffalo — the Texans solidified that victory.
Should this move pan out over the fall? The Texans could win something bigger than an offseason title.
They might win a title that truly matters.
