ESPN analyst unfairly criticizes how Josh Allen, Bills handled Stefon Diggs
The Buffalo Bills are in the middle of some summer drama and unfortunately for them, it involves one of their best players in All-Pro wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Diggs didn't show up for the first day of mandatory minicamp and head coach Sean McDermott started a fire when he said he was "very concerned" over […]
The Buffalo Bills are in the middle of some summer drama and unfortunately for them, it involves one of their best players in All-Pro wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Diggs didn't show up for the first day of mandatory minicamp and head coach Sean McDermott started a fire when he said he was "very concerned" over Diggs' absence. Naturally, all kinds of speculation followed McDermott's comments and the Bills have been dealing with the fallout, since.
Two more stars -Josh Allen and Von Miller- were dragged into the mix via the media and they offered up their own takes, much like McDermott.
And sure enough, said takes didn't do a whole lot to quell the situation.
ESPN's Ryan Clark, a former 12-year NFL Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion, didn't like how the Bills handled things on Tuesday and he made that point very clear on the afternoon episode of NFL Live.
"My question is: What happened to good old-fashioned lying?" Clark rhetorically asked his co-workers on live television. "What ever happened to a coach stepping up to a microphone and lying? What ever happened to a quarterback stepping up to a microphone and lying…
"… Now, we're left to deal with the speculation and we are trying to read in-between the lines… Him [Diggs] missing time during a mandatory minicamp is a problem and then when you come out and admit you have a problem – you have a bigger problem!"
Clark has been on both sides of the coin and while he has a point, he also knows as a media member, this type of honesty is what people in his profession crave. There's a reason so many people like Mike McDaniel – he's real and honest and he doesn't play the stupid coach-speak game.
The questions are going to keep coming no matter what McDermott, Allen, or even Miller say. If they say everything's fine and then Diggs no-shows over the next couple of days, they'll look just as bad, then, as they are perceived to look, now.
And who knows, maybe McDermott's comment was some kind of ploy that will reveal itself to be a genius, forward-thinking move on down the line? As Clark stated, it's all speculation and reading in-between the lines. There is obviously so much more than what we are seeing and hearing, so there's no reason to take things at surface-value.
Clark should be thankful, honestly. Because the Bills gave him plenty of content to talk about on Tuesday. For all he knew, he could've been going over droll and mundane landing spots for Dalvin Cook, or something.
Bills: Josh Allen and Von Miller speak out about Stefon Diggs' absence
The Buffalo Bills head coach said he was “very concerned’ that Stefon Diggs wasn’t at mandatory camp. Since then, two of the team’s biggest leaders in Josh Allen and Von Miller spoke out about the situation.
Featured image via Jamie Germano/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK
