How Stefon Diggs is ‘great to work with’ in Texans’ explosive offense intended for ‘everybody eats’ strategy

HOUSTON – Stefon Diggs cut sharply, breaking free over the middle as he gained separation from safety Jalen Pitre to catch the football in stride from Pro Bowl quarterback C.J. Stroud.

After hustling into the end zone, even after being corralled by defenders, to finish the play, Diggs jogged back to the huddle where the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver was congratulated by wide receiver Tank Dell with a cool, index finger first handshake.

Yes, the former Buffalo Bills star, acquired in a blockbuster trade, is fitting right into the Texans’ explosive offense. And, yes, the Texans’ offense has plenty of flexibility and diversity of downfield targets. The Texans have a solid argument that they have the most talented wide receiver trio in the NFL between Diggs, Dell and Nico Collins, who signed a three-year, $75 million maximum value deal last week.

And Diggs’ presence and proven game, along with tight end Dalton Schultz and running back Joe Mixon for an offense headlined by Stroud, an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, gives offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik plenty of ideas for his play-calling strategy this season for the defending AFC South champions.

“He has been great to work with,” Slowik said. “His big thing right now, kind of like we already talked about with some other guys is verbiage, just picking up verbiage. It is a little bit different than when he was in Buffalo, but there is nothing that he hasn’t seen or done before. Then, the football player. The man is just so competitive, and it shows on tape.

“He is a lot like our quarterback in that he will do absolutely anything necessary to win the game, whether he doesn’t have the ball, he has the ball in his hands, at all times he is in between the white lines and doing everything he can to win. He is a good route runner. He has all the receiver traits you can ask for, but what jumps out to me and what fits with us and what we are always engaged with is how competitive guys are, how tough they are, and the style play they have.”

When the Texans acquired Diggs, they made a huge adjustment to his contract. They eliminated the final three years of his original four-year, $96 million extension, per a league source. The Texans have now shifted $3.515 million guaranteed that Diggs was due in 2025 to 2024 and made this a one-year guaranteed $22.5 million contract that includes a $250,000 workout bonus and a $15,000 per game active roster bonus, up to $255,000.

HIs salary-cap figure for this year is $5.8 million.

Diggs receives a $20.895 million signing bonus, His $1.21 million base salary is fully guaranteed for skill, injury and salary cap. And 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 are voidable years with $30 million base salaries annually for salary-cap accounting purposes. His salary-cap figure for 2024 is just $5.867 million due to this renegotiated contract.

The Texans, in an all-in mode after this blockbuster trade and a spending spree that includes a two-year, $51 million deal for Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter, have made this a one-year arrangement with Diggs, for now. Nothing precludes them from doing a new deal with Diggs, if things go smoothly, or moving on after one year should he leave in free agency. They have this year to build a relationship.

And those relationships are already being formed as plans are being formulated for the fall.

“It’s hard,” Collins said of the effect the Texans’ receivers will have on defenses. “We all got different games. As a unit, as a receiver room, we got the pieces we need. It’s going to be hard for defenses. We know our mission.

“We trying to win a Super Bowl. Can’t be selfish, gotta be a team player. Gotta have joy for your brother out there making plays. I feel like, as a unit, that’s what we doing. Building that chemistry, building that bond. Build that bond, it’s unbreakable.”

When the Texans traded a 2025 second-round draft pick to the Bills to acquire Diggs, they added a veteran who’s in exceptional shape and has a wide variety of moves, strong hands and elusiveness in the open field.

This followed a previous trade attempt for wide receiver Keenan Allen from general manager Nick Caserio and an inquiry about wide receiver Mike Williams before he was released from the Los Angeles Chargers, according to league sources.

And the Texans added a player who has 810 career receptions for 9,995 yards and 67 touchdowns.

The possibilities for an offense that includes a Pro Bowl running back in Mixon and a Pro Bowl left tackle in Laremy Tunsil should be endless.

“Our job is taking advantage of what they are elite at,” Slowik said. “How do we make sure what fits them get shown to the world and showcased? We’ve got a chance to use that in the pass game and run game. We have a quarterback that really gives us no limitations in that regard. We can do all kinds of stuff to make sure that whatever we are calling and however we use guys, we are making sure they are doing their strengths.”

What does that mean?

The Texans can pound the football behind Mixon. They can use a controlled passing game with Diggs or Schultz on underneath and intermediate patterns as well as Mixon out of the backfield. And, of course, they can strike deep or get a lot of yards after the catch with Diggs, Dell and Collins.

“If we feel like we need to throw the ball deep to win a game, we can do that,” Slowik said. “If we have to throw it short to win a game, we can do that. If we have to run the ball 40 times to win a game, we feel like we can do that. It just enables and empowers us to do whatever is necessary that given week to beat the opponent in front of us. And everybody on our offense, and really on our team right now, is all in on that, and that is what is making this really fun.”

For the past four seasons, Diggs caught at least 100 passes. That included 127 catches for 1,535 yards and eight touchdowns in 2020, 103 catches for 1,226 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2021, 108 catches for 1,429 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2022 before dipping to 107 catches for 1,183 yards and eight touchdowns last season as his role was decreased in the second half of last season.

The offense is led by Stroud, who joined Tom Brady and Joe Montana last season as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to lead the league in passing yards per contest and touchdown-to-interception ration.

“We want to put defenses in binds, and I think with those three guys it allows us to do that because they are so different, and they can all do different things,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “But, at the end of the day, they are all explosive finishers with the football, and that is what makes those guys great players. They can win on third down, and they can finish and get in the end zone, and that’s what we look for at all skill positions on offense.”

Between Dell, who has made a speedy, full recovery from a gunshot wound through his leg this offseason as an innocent bystander in a Florida pass shooting and a broken fibula last season, Diggs and Collins, this offense can be extremely dangerous.

“It’s been really fun working with Diggs,” Ryans said. “You talk about a guy who’s dialed in, a guy who loves football. It’s been fun to work with him. It’s been fun just to see the chemistry that starts to build in our locker room with him, our quarterback, the other receivers, offensive players, defensive players. He’s going to be a really great fit with what we do here.”

Diggs had 834 receiving yards and 70 catches with seven touchdowns through the first nine weeks of the regular season.

From that point onward, he caught just 37 passes for 349 yards and one touchdown.

The Texans don’t see Diggs in decline. At all. They believe the 30-year-old is in his prime.

“We always go back to the tape and we look at a player in totality,” Ryans said. “We don’t look at this amount of weeks, or those weeks, we look at the entire season. We look at the guy’s entire career, what he’s done, how he’s been productive. He has been an All-Pro player, he’s been a Pro Bowl player, over 1,000 yards for multiple seasons.”

Diggs is already forming a strong relationship with Stroud.

They have hung out together off the field and spent time in Los Angeles for a throwing session that included Dell.

“He adds a ton of value to that room,” Stroud said. “There’s a lot of wisdom that he carries that I think he’ll spread to the other guys. He’s been reaching out to really everybody, and I think that whole room in general is going to be great. I think we’re all going to feed off of each other. It’s going to be very fun and very exciting just to work with everybody in that room, and I’m very excited for it.”

Diggs is in superb condition, evidenced by his demanding workouts he posts on a nearly daily basis on Instagram with trainers in Los Angeles, South Florida and Maryland where he excelled at Good Counsel High School and the University of Maryland where he caught passes at his campus Pro Day from Caserio, then a New England Patriots executive.

One of the most prolific wide receivers in the NFL over the past four seasons, Diggs has often been labeled in some NFL circles as a diva. His relationship with Bills coach Sean McDermott had its ups and downs, according to league sources. Diggs frequently penned cryptic social media messages. And his brother, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Trevon Diggs, made comments about wanting him to get out of Buffalo.

At the same time, Diggs’ former teammates have consistently praised him for his prodigious work ethic, passion to win and cited their deep friendships with the Maryland native. Diggs, who keeps a tight inner circle comprised of his friends from his high school and college days, has already started bonding with Stroud.

Caserio reflected on the Diggs’ trade, which included sending the Bills a 2025 second-round draft pick to the Bills in exchange for the wide receiver, a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick.

When asked about Diggs’ reputation, Caserio defended him and the Texans’ process that includes extensive research and conversations with Ryans before making this power move.

“Number one, I don’t even know what that definition means,” Caserio said during a press conference at NRG Stadium. “We’re not worried about (the past), again, we’re worried about what a player does when he walks in the building. We do our research and we talk to players and other players all the time, our players. What is your experience with him?’

“So, we do our research and ultimately DeMeco and I sit and talk, and if we feel comfortable with the discussion we go ahead and make the decision. Candidly, I think it’s unfair to label anybody until they actually have an opportunity to walk in the building. Again, our environment is different than another environment, so we really don’t know what’s going on in 31 other buildings. We know what’s going on in our building. We are excited to have ‘Stef here.”

Diggs is also the elder statesman of a gifted receiving trio.

And Collins has been watching him since middle school.

“Steph, he’s that vet in the room, been needing him,” Collins said. “I’ve been watching Steph since I was in middle school, high school. He’s been very successful in his league, man. And for him to be in the room with us, man, and a teammate of mine, of everybody, man, just the success he’s had on the field, man, there’s no better feeling. You can pick his brain, pick how he moves, how he thinks. Coming off the line of scrimmage, if the defender is in a different position, little things like that, it really goes a long way.

“I see why he has that type of success. Him being a part of the room, joining the field with him. sharing the field with him, just picking his brain, we push each other. We push each other, everybody. I feel like as a unit, as a receiver room, man. We got the right pieces. For everybody to shine. I feel like we’re all going to push each other. And just play for one another. Play like that, man, can’t nobody stop you.”

And the NFL scheduled the Texans for six nationally televised games, a franchise record, and four primetime games, because there’s significant interest in this team.

That’s largely because of Stroud, 22, who passed for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions for a 100.8 passer rating as a rookie last season.

“Come in and be with CJ, and by CJ being one of the best quarterbacks in the league, bro, it’s a hell of a thing,” Mixon said. “I don’t know if he even knows it yet, but he has all the right tools, he has all the right traits for him to be actually the best in the league. And I think that the way that he prepares and the way that he leads and the way that he works, I truly feel like it’s definitely something special in the making.

“In terms of everybody touching the ball and doing certain things, we stay on the field, everybody eats. Everybody touch the ball, everybody put up what they want put up. We know defense, for sure, is going to give us the ball back. As long as we execute doing all the right things well, man, and building that chemistry right now to come back in July, I think that it’s going to go a long way. This offense, man, sky’s the limit.”

Adding Diggs has transformed the defending AFC South champion Texans, behind the strength of a productive offseason into a trendy Super Bowl contender.

“I was very excited,” Stroud said. “I met him at the Pro Bowl, got to meet each other, got to meet his kids and to see what type of person he was. Just been able to grow our relationship from there. It’s really cool just to be able to go from not only that scene to now, him being a teammate of mine. Just really excited to get to work with him.

“He adds a ton of value to that room. There’s a lot of wisdom that he carries that I think he’ll spread to the other guys. He’s been reaching out to really everybody and I think that whole room in general is going to be great. I think we’re all going to feed off of each other. It’s going to be very fun and very exciting just to work with everybody in that room and I’m very excited for it.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com