ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott spoke to the media Tuesday ahead of the start of mandatory minicamp and said wide receiver Stefon Diggs is not in attendance but every other player is.
When asked how concerned he was McDermott said: "very concerned." Another reporter followed up, saying "So it's not an excused absence?" and McDermott responded, "I respect everyone's questions and what they want to know about our team, right now I'm not going to get into that anymore. We'll talk about practice, happy to do that, happy to answer those questions, and we'll move forward from there."
Later in the press conference, McDermott was asked how much it hurts not having Diggs at mandatory minicamp while trying to get other players familiar with the offense and he responded "When players miss, in particular a player of Stef's caliber, you'd love to have those players here but overall been pleased with the attendance and the guy's effort."
ESPN's Adam Schefter reports: "Stefon Diggs’ agent, Adisa Bakari, said his client is in Buffalo, has been in Buffalo since yesterday morning, took his physical, met with the head coach and GM the past two days and the Pro-Bowl WR 'will be there for the entirety of the minicamp.'"
A Bills representative confirmed to 7 News that Diggs was at the team's facility Tuesday morning but did not stay around for practice.
After practice wrapped up for the day, Bills quarterback Josh Allen and edge rusher Von Miller spoke to the media and addressed the situation surrounding Diggs' absence.
"I know internally we're working on some things, not football related," said Allen. "Stef, he's my guy, I (expletive) love him. He's a brother of mine. This does not work, what we're doing here, without him. We wish he was in here today and was out there on the field with us, that's not the case, but I've got his back no matter what. I've got no doubts that we will figure out what's going on."
Allen continued on to say that he would do anything in his power to make sure the Bills can "get him back because we are a much, much better team with him on the field, and in order to accomplish the goals we want to accomplish we need him."
Allen also said the positive thing is that there is plenty of time to figure it out.
Miller said he is supportive of Diggs and said he wouldn't be in Buffalo if it wasn't for him. He continued on to say he believes it'll get worked out and he is not worried about it.
In April 2022, Diggs signed a four-year contract extension with the Bills.
