Stefon Diggs EXCLUSIVE: Bills WR on Acting, Super Bowl & Buffalo ‘Soft Spot’
In the midst of a season laden with championship aspirations and expectations, it seems there's no escape from the Buffalo Bills during this NFL excursion. Such coverage even extends to commercial breaks during Sunday's game action.
Bills stars Stefon Diggs and Von Miller are the latest stars of Progressive Insurance's advertising campaign known as "Replay," in which everyday arguments are resolved gridiron-style, namely through the tossing of a red challenge flag normally thrown by the NFL's 32 NFL head coaches. Diggs and Miller's spot, in which they each show up to work wearing the same pregame outfit, debuted during last Sunday's Week 7 exploits.
Diggs sat down with Bills Central to discuss his 30 seconds of promotional glory as well as the past, present, and future of Western New York football ...
Q: There are an endless amount of endorsement options for a player of your caliber. What stood out about Progressive's "Replay" campaign?
SD: Obviously the opportunity itself was a blessing. It was just something that jumped out at me, especially knowing that my teammate was going to be involved. The whole concept of throwing a flag and challenging a play, I felt that was very creative. It was not only creative for me but it takes that next step into another direction outside of football. It was fun. I had a good time, and everybody just made it a good experience.
Q: Normally Sean McDermott is the one throwing the challenge flag. How did it feel to be on the other side of that one for a change?
SD: I felt like it was a power trip. I've never experienced that kind of power in my life. (laughs) I was like, it looks like I'm going to be making the decisions from here on out. Hopefully, I get an opportunity, in a game, to throw an actual one.
Q: Is more acting in the cards for you? Are you destined to become Buffalo's Peyton Manning when it comes to game-day advertisements?
SD: Yeah, (acing) is something I would definitely love to venture off into, especially while I'm playing football. Not just after football, but trying to get a leg into the right spaces during football, so I can continue to grow with it. I might need to take some acting classes, I had talked about it the past couple of seasons. You can imagine how busy the offseason gets but I think I might have to take it a little bit more seriously and take my first couple of steps.
Q: How great was it to work with a teammate like Von considering the unfortunate lack of on-field opportunities to do so?
SD: Yeah, it was amazing. Obviously, you saw an impact from day one. He obviously played a key role in our defense, not just on the field, but off of it as well with the mindset stuff and keeping us in the right mind frame going into games. He's been a leader and a captain on his team, so it was fun to just get away from work, try to have a little bit of fun, and really hone in on a little bit of stuff outside of the details of football. It was fun to work with him and it was something that hopefully we can do again in the future. The commercial itself, from the previews and the video that I've seen, it came out it came out amazing.
Q: As someone who has been a major part of the Bills' success in the new decade, how has Von added to the culture and aura that you have created despite his relatively brief time on the field?
SD: When he got started here, it turned the key for good players to come and play for Buffalo and really (showed) that guys want to be here guys see that we have something special here, we got a real team here. Everybody thinks that happens overnight and it doesn't. As this process continues to grow, I really look at his arrival as one of those things, one of those signs of more players, the right kind of players (coming here), and that he was definitely one of those great pieces.
Q: What has worked and what needs improvement about the 2023 Buffalo Bills season?
SD: We obviously got to play better offense and execution-wise. We've been putting up 30, 40-point games or playing games and it's just like sometimes we have a little lull. We just have to shake the funk off a little bit, We have some amazing players, you know, we've got one of the best quarterbacks, if not the best quarterback, in the league. Just all of us getting on the same page and having success continuously is not going to be as turnkey. It's not going to happen overnight, things are going to happen. But that adversity, I feel like, we've got a team that's built for it.
Q: You mention that quarterback, Josh Allen. During the game against the New York Giants, he was unafraid to insert himself into the extracurriculars. What does it mean to have a quarterback that will stand up for his men like that?
SD: He's a little crazy. (laughs) I would say that' a guy that I know I no only want to play alongside, but that's a brother of mine. When saw my family over there, I was kind of late, I was late for the party, but I saw my quarterback over there and I just made sure everything was everything, so I just tried to jump on (Giants defensive lineman) Dexter Lawrence. Anybody who's ever seen Dexter Lawrence, No. 97 on the New York Giants, look up a photo of him. I probably didn't have a chance, but I knew my quarterback was over there. If he's over there, I'm over there. It says a lot about him as a player, as a captain, and you can tell he has a couple of screws loose if he's over there (laughs).
Q: You and Josh have been around for the start of this recent run of Buffalo success, part of a select group that also includes guys like Gabe Davis, Dawson Knox, and even Coach McDermott. How would you describe the culture and identity created and how is it going to get you past the AFC title game hump?
SD: I just feel like we've got to keep chopping wood. It's an everyday process and we take it one day at a time. We've got a lot of talent, continuing to hone in on details right now, continuing to get on that same page each and every play. It's a grind, something that we continue to grow from and grow with. It's a process that I think we'll fare with well. We've had our share of adversity but here we are, we always finish strong. We're still alive, we're still going. There are a lot of positive things with a lot of positive energy around here.
Q: What does your unique skillset bring to the quest for Super Bowl LVIII?
SD: I feel like I can do everything on offense. I can be in the backfield, I can be out wide, I can be in the slot, I can just be anywhere you need a receiver to go, wherever you want it to be. Where you want a receiver to be, I can be that. I can go deep, I can run long routes, intermediate. My game doesn't have like one thing that I could do, so I feel like I'm a jack of all trades, that's just trying to work on and be a master of all of it.
Q: How has Western New York established itself as a long-term home for you?
SD: The day I got here, they welcomed me with open arms. They've had my back amidst all of the stuff that has happened since I got here, with the ups and downs, and it's just something that I hold near and dear to my heart. If you ever look at, you know guys who once played for Buffalo, guys who don't pay for Buffalo anymore but did in the past, they always have a soft spot for Buffalo. For me, my soft spot grows each day I'm here. Hopefully, I can be engraved into Buffalo history with great things happening in the near future.