In an absolutely stunning move, the Buffalo Bills have announced that they are trading star wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans for draft pick compensation.

The Bills will also send Houston a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick, and will receive the Texans' 2025 second-round pick.

It’s not exactly the type of return one would have expected, but that would seem to indicate that Diggs’ value wasn’t enormous on the trade market, and it also would hint that the Bills had come to the conclusion that the 30-year-old Diggs was no longer the player he had been, and the time was right to cut bait.

“I just think we want to appreciate Stef and the four years we had,” general manager Brandon Beane said Wednesday afternoon. “You don't want to get into everything. Everything you do you think is the best decision and you make it. You weigh the pros and cons, we don't take it lightly.”

Speculation surrounding Diggs’ future in Buffalo has been swirling since the end of the 2022 season, when the Bills were bounced from the playoffs by Cincinnati and Diggs stormed out of the locker room without talking to anyone.

Things really heated up throughout last offseason when he stayed away from the Bills’ workout program, and then would occasionally send out cryptic messages on his social media channels. He only rejoined the team at the very end for its mandatory minicamp, but chose not to explain what all the drama was about in the months preceding that until he arrived for training camp at St. John Fisher University.

Then in 2023, he remained mostly quiet about his future, and he got off to a great start and all seemed well. But for most of the second half of the season, Diggs slumped and that continued into Buffalo’s postseason loss to the Chiefs.

Beane admitted that teams began to call him, wondering if he’d be willing to discuss a trade, and it turned out he was. The talks with Houston had been going on for a few days, culminating in Wednesday’s deal.

“It’s not the first time we've been called to ask if we’d move him,” Beane said. “You discuss it when you get calls, and there’s been plenty of players that we’ve been called on to move and we didn't think it was the right time or the right value. With this move, talking to Houston the last couple days, the values seemed to make sense, the timing made sense for them and for us. We worked on the deal and got it finalized it today.”

The Bills will likely miss Diggs’ talent, but they will not miss the diva-like drama that became so prevalent since that loss to the Bengals.

When he was at the Pro Bowl in February, Diggs was interviewed by NFL Network and was asked about his future. He said, “I don’t know. I feel like as far as with the money and all that type of stuff, I can’t control none of that. It’s a long offseason in front of me. As far as the future, I don’t have any surprises for you right now.”

Well, surprise.

Stefon Diggs' effect on Buffalo Bills salary cap 2024

Trading Diggs creates a massive dead salary cap hit for the Bills this year, around $31 million, but that’s only about $3.3 million more than he was already scheduled to count. And now he is off the books for the future, which greatly improves their cap structure because he was set to cost $27.3 million in 2025.

Sports contract website spotrac.com estimates that with Diggs’ cap hit, the Bills now have only about $4.2 million in cap space. Of course, they will get more than $10 million back once Tre’Davious White is officially off the books on June 1. Most of that money will be used to pay their 2024 draft class.

What will the Buffalo Bills wide receiver group look like in 2024?

Now the question becomes, what is Beane’s plan to fill the gaping hole at No. 1 receiver because right now, that player is not on the Bills’ roster. Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir are fine pieces, but they aren’t difference makers.

With the 28th overall pick in the first round, it’s unlikely any receiver still available will be Diggs’ replacement, so is Beane trying to get a package together, using draft picks from the future (such as the second-rounder he just received) to make a bold move up the board later this month to try to get someone like Malik Nabers, Marvin Harrison Jr. or Rome Odunze, all of whom are expected to go in the top 10?

More: Bills need to draft an explosive wide receiver early in the NFL Draft: Here are options

Perhaps he could get to the middle portion of the round where Brian Thomas, a player whom they met with at the Scouting Combine, could be available.

Stefon Diggs' career with Buffalo Bills

Diggs came to the Bills in 2020 in a trade from the Vikings, and during his four years with the team, he set multiple records, including most catches (127) and yards in a season (1,535), both established that first season.

He later tacked on three more 100-catch, 1,000-yard seasons, something no Bills receiver had ever done. And in just four years, he moved into fourth place on the team’s all-time career list for receptions (445), yards (5,372), and receiving TDs (37), and third in 100-yard games (21). He also was named to the Pro Bowl all four of his Buffalo seasons.

But in 2023, after putting up 100-yard games in five of the first six weeks, Diggs endured a steady decline. His best game thereafter was 87 yards in the finale against Miami, he caught only three TDs counting the postseason, and in the game against the Chiefs he was muted by Kansas City cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and had only three catches for 21 yards, plus had a huge drop on a deep ball on Buffalo’s last possession.

On locker cleanout day, Diggs was not available to the media. Josh Allen was, and he was asked about Diggs’ drop in production as the season wore on.

“I think teams were doing a good job of playing two-high and taking some things away that we were doing well during the season,” he said. “I thought we ran the ball more and put more effort into the run game. And then I missed a few throws early on in the season or the middle of the season, late in the season that could have changed the narrative about this whole thing.

“That’s my brother. You’ll never catch me saying anything other than positive things. He’s been such a catalyst for this team and this offense for the last four years. He’s done things that I can’t thank him enough for in my career.”

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out every other Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Stefon Diggs traded to Houston Texans, Bills receive draft pick