Former Buffalo Bills star wide receiver signs $69M contract to return to AFC East

The New England Patriots are signing another former Buffalo Bills wide receiver in free agency.

Stefon Diggs is back in the AFC East. 

Diggs, 31, and the Patriots agreed to a three-year contract worth up to $69 million with $26 million guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. His $23 million average annual salary ties him with Tennessee’s Calvin Ridley for 16th highest among wide receivers. 

Diggs, once healthy, enters New England as the No. 1 wide receiver for second-year quarterback Drake Maye. Diggs visited the Patriots on a free agent visit last week. 

New England signed Mack Hollins to a two-year, $8.4 million contract on the first day of free agency two weeks ago. Diggs (2000-2023) and Hollins (2024) represent the Bills’ touchdown receptions leaders in each of the last five seasons.

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Diggs recovering from a torn ACL in his lone season with the Houston Texans in 2024. He had 47 receptions for 496 yards and three touchdowns along with a rushing touchdown before suffering the season-ending injury in Week 8.

Buffalo traded the mercurial Diggs, a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick to Houston in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick in April 2024. The Texans voided the final three years of Diggs’ contract so he’d become a free agent in 2025. The Bills took a $31.1 million dead cap hit in the deal but quarterback Josh Allen won the NFL MVP award in his first post-Diggs season.

Diggs made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons with Buffalo from 2000-2023. He had least 100 receptions and 1,100 receiving yards every year in a Bills uniform. Diggs holds the Bills’ franchise records for receptions (127), receiving yards (1,535) and receiving touchdowns (11) in a season. He led the NFL in catches and receiving yards in 2020.

Diggs played against Buffalo in Houston after he was traded last year. He had six catches for 82 yards in a 23-20 Texans’ victory in Week 5.

He was drafted in the fifth round by the Minnesota Vikings in 2015. Diggs has 857 receptions for 10,491 receiving yards and 71 touchdowns (70 receiving) in his 10-year career.

How old is Stefon Diggs?

Diggs is 31 years old. He’ll turn 32 on Nov. 29.

The oldest wide receiver in the NFL in 2024 was Adam Thielen at 34 years old.

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