The Patriots are signing the veteran wide receiver to a three-year contract.
Stefon Diggs’ breakup with the Buffalo Bills was one of the big stories of the 2024 NFL offseason. One of the most productive wide receivers in football and a go-to guy for quarterback Josh Allen, he was traded to the Houston Texans under what appeared to be less than amicable circumstances.
Diggs’ role in the Bills offense had changed, and he was not quite happy about that development. And so, shipped to the AFC South he was.
The media coverage at the time reflected the nature of the split, and shone a negative light on Diggs. Sports Illustrated labeled him a “controversial” player; ABC13 Houston wondered whether he would be “difficult for the Texans;” Buffalo Rumblings called him an “enigmatic and seemingly self-absorbed” player.
Based on those sentiments, the move seemed like a gamble for the Texans at the time. Teaming up a young quarterback with what appeared to be a difficult personality could very well have blow up in their faces.
It did not.
While Diggs was limited to only eight games due to a torn ACL suffered in late October, and failed to extend his 1,000-yard streak into a seventh straight season as a result, he was nothing like the diva he was portrayed as. Quite the opposite actually, as Texans beat writer Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston explained.
“He fit in well. He was popular in the locker room. He was well-liked by the coaching staff,” Wilson said in a recent YouTube video. “A lot of people said, ‘Well, he’s a diva’ and all that sort of stuff — it’s not really the way he was perceived in the locker room. He was perceived as a fun-loving personality and someone that definitely is an individual, but what he does helps the collective.”
A clear reflection of that was Diggs getting named a team captain in just his first season with the organization. The Texans, just like the Patriots have done the past two-plus decades, are letting their players vote for who will represent them in that fashion.
Diggs earned the honor alongside six of his teammates. One of them was the aforementioned young QB, C.J. Stroud, who only had good things to say about the supposedly enigmatic wideout.
“I think he got a bad rap just by the media and by people. But he’s been nothing but just amazing to this team and to his teammates. He’s helped me out a ton,” Stroud said during the regular season. “Just being around him has been really awesome.”
The Texans’ quarterback was not the only one to benefit from Diggs’ presence. As Wilson explained, he also took the team’s young group of wide receivers under his wing.
“He was generous with his time,” he said. “He would stay after practice, working with the younger receivers. He mentored Tank Dell and John Metchie III, and Nico Collins and Xavier Hutchinson.”
Diggs’ stint in Houston ended up lasting less than a year, and his knee injury had a negative effect on the on-field impact he ended up having. Nonetheless, it shows a side of the 31-year-old that oftentimes appears to get lost in the discourse surrounding him.
It is a side the New England Patriots are also banking on shining through.
Signing him to a three-year contract worth up to $69 million on Monday, they are adding Diggs to a situation similar to the one he encountered in Houston. He will be playing with a second-year quarterback in Drake Maye, and be counted on to help lead a wide receiver room that lacked direction, leadership and productivity the previous year.
Obviously, his potential as a playmaker and go-to guy for Maye is a primary reason for the team’s investment. However, his experience and willingness to mentor younger players was seemingly also part of the deal.
It is something he has shown he can do, despite the doom-and-gloom stories after his departure from Buffalo.
“Two things can be true: he can be a lot in terms of his personality, could be a little extra, but this isn’t the type of place where you have to tread lightly,” said Wilson. “This is a football team, and you can have a few personalities like Stefon Diggs, especially when they are as productive as Stefon was.”
The Patriots appear to agree with that assessment, and that any concerns about Diggs’ locker room fit seem greatly exaggerated.