What the Stefon Diggs trade means for the rest of the receivers
By Tyler Lyman
The Texans have traded for Stefon Diggs by giving the Bills a 2025 second-round draft pick, it's also reported that the Bills are also sending a 2024 sixth-rounder and a 2025 fifth-rounder to Houston. This is huge for the Texans, this will help C.J. Stroud a lot. He already showed he could play with the receivers he had, but then added a top 10 receiver in the league. Stroud should have a great season in 2024 with what they have, but even though it's good for C.J. Stroud, what does it mean for the rest of the receivers?
First off in the locker room, Diggs will be another leader. He has complained about his previous quarterback during the season, but I see that as he is just so driven to win and wants to be the guy to do it. He will add a winning mentality to the team, and he and Stroud will both be good leaders to this team.
Nico Collins who was the best receiver on the Texans last season, got 1297 yards and 8 touchdowns. Collins' stats do closely match Stefon Diggs's stats, he even has about 100 more yards. But with the addition of Diggs, he will be moved to the number 2 receiver. He will still make plays of course, but it will be limited just because Diggs is the better receiver. Nico Collins is still on his 4-year rookie contract, but 2024 is his final year on that. I do think they him and the Texans will find a good deal, and that all he has to do is keep playing as he did last year.
Tank Dell I think will be affected in two different ways. Clearly, he is good to become the third receiver, but he's young and still played amazing last year. Even though he got injured last year he was still able to get 7 touchdowns and 709 yards. I do think his number of catches will decrease, he will have to work harder to get open so he does get the ball passed to him. Though I think in the long run Tank Dell will benefit from the addition of Diggs, he will hopefully learn more things from him.
Robert Woods might be the most affected by this trade, he was the No. 3 receiver last year. Now he will be more of a "second option", he will be there if any of the other receivers get injured. Last year he only got 426 yards and just 1 touchdown. Not to mention that he is 31 years old. I don't believe he will be given an extension as in 2023 he was given a 2-year deal.
With Noah Brown signing a 1-year contract about 2 weeks ago, he should still be in the rotation every once in a while. He was able to get 567 yards and 2 touchdowns last season in Houston and I do believe that he will perform better than Robert Woods again this upcoming season.
The addition of Stefon Diggs is great for the Texans and I think the only real bad thing that will happen to the rest of the receivers is just fewer targets. But I think they will take that hit if it means that the whole team becomes better.