Bills GM Brandon Beane not wavering on Stefon Diggs as 'No. 1 receiver' following down year

The Buffalo Bills face questions of a familiar sort after a fifth consecutive postseason failure.

Principle among those is figuring out how to reinvigorate Stefon Diggs, who performed far from his signature self over the second half of the season.

"He's a No. 1 receiver," general manager Brandon Beane told reporters on Tuesday during his end-of-season news conference. "I firmly believe that. I'm not wavering off of that. … We have to continue to put weapons out there to keep teams from bracketing him or locking him down in different ways. … Stef can still play. I'm sure he would love to have that deep ball again. He'd be the first to tell you. He's super competitive. He's going to work his tail off this offseason. … I know there's various reasons or questions on this, there's production and all that, but I still see Stef as a No. 1 receiver."

The deep ball Beane mentioned was a Sunday night moonshot in the fourth quarter from quarterback Josh Allen, standing at his own 12-yard line, impossibly dropped into Diggs' hands at the Kansas City's 27-yard line.

It was a difficult catch to make, with Diggs failing to jump and corral it past Chiefs safety Justin Reid, but the Bills desperately needed a play like that from one of their stars while trailing by three points with just over eight minutes remaining in what eventually became another postseason loss to rival Kansas City.

Diggs eventually finished with just three catches for 21 yards in the 27-24 Divisional Round defeat, his lowest receiving total all season.

The disappointing outing was emblematic of how Diggs season devolved as it went on.

After beginning the year with five 100-yard outings in Buffalo's first six games, the 30-year-old would eclipse 80 yards just twice more,