ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills receiver Stefon Diggs will never have to feel undervalued again.
The fifth-round draft pick who blossomed into one of the NFL’s top playmakers after being traded by Minnesota to Buffalo two years ago agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $96 million, a person with direct knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the contract has not yet been signed. The agreement was first reported by ESPN earlier in the day.
The 28-year-old Diggs had two years remaining on his current contract, with the extension locking him up through the 2027 season.
Diggs celebrated the agreement on his Twitter account by posting a video clip from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” in which actor Leonardo DiCaprio announces “I’m not leaving.”
The agreement represents the dynamic spark Diggs has provided to what’s become a pass-first Bills offense, and the instant chemistry he’s established with quarterback Josh Allen.
And it validates the faith GM Brandon Beane placed in Diggs by acquiring him for a first-round draft pick 25 months ago.
Though productive during his five seasons in Minnesota, Diggs was mostly a secondary option behind receiver Adam Thielen and in an offense that leaned heavily on the running attack.
Diggs thrived immediately in Buffalo upon taking over the lead role among a group of receivers rounded out by John Brown and Cole Beasley.
In 2020, Diggs was part of an offense that set numerous single-season franchise passing and scoring records, while he became Buffalo’s first player to lead the league in both catches (127) and yards (1,535).
Last season, he finished eighth in the NFL with 1,225 yards receiving, while also leading the Bills with 103 catches and 10 touchdowns.
PACKERS: Outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus says he’s retiring, ending a 10-year career in which he made 58 sacks.
Mercilus, 31, announced his decision via Instagram. The 2012 first-round draft pick from Illinois spent nearly his entire career with the Houston Texans before playing four regular-season games and one playoff contest with the Green Bay Packers last season.
FALCONS: The budget-conscious Atlanta Falcons signed former first-round picks Rashaan Evans and offensive lineman Germain Ifedi to one-year contracts.
Evans bolsters the Falcons at linebacker after spending the past four seasons with the Tennessee Titans. He was the 22nd overall pick in the 2018 draft from Alabama.
Ifedi gives Atlanta additional depth on an offensive line that struggled badly in 2021. He was No. 31 overall pick in 2016 by the Seattle Seahawks and spent the past two seasons with the Chicago Bears.
BROWNS: Quarterback Deshaun Watson must say whether he had sex with 18 massage therapists who supported him last year following criminal complaints, a judge in Texas ruled.
USA Today reported that Watson has 30 days to comply. He previously would not address his past with the therapists. Watson also has to provide other information about his massage history since 2019, including any language in his contract with the Texans about massages.
One of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, Watson was traded last month from Houston to Cleveland.
He has been accused by 22 women of sexual misconduct during therapy sessions, many of which he arranged by contacting the therapists on social media in 2020 and 2021.
To this point, two grand juries have declined to indict Watson on 10 criminal complaints filed to Houston police. He still faces the civil suits and has been giving depositions on those for several weeks.
As part of those civil lawsuits, the women’s attorneys want Watson to answer written “requests for admission” about whether he had sex with the 18 therapists who backed him after the first lawsuits against him were filed in March 2021.
OBIT: Former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Doug Sutherland, a member of the Purple People Eaters, has died. He was 73.
The team released a statement saying Sutherland died Tuesday, but did not provide a cause of death.
Sutherland played 12 seasons in the NFL from 1970-81 with New Orleans, Minnesota and Seattle. Drafted by the Saints in the 14th round, he was traded to the Vikings the following season and played 10 years in Minnesota. Sutherland registered 29 sacks in 164 career games.
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