Socci’s View: The Patriots’ signing of Stefon Diggs was big news; the bigger story is his comeback bid
The breaking news didn’t hit me with an eyeful of 3D graphics filling my television screen, surprise me as a meme popping up on Instagram or follow a catchy radio ‘sounder’ like the one I hear just before Big Jim interrupts Mike and Tony with an urgent bulletin.
I got it, without warning, from a palm reader in the middle of a crowded room.
We were both inside Gillette Stadium’s Sports Illustrated Pavilion early Tuesday evening for a quarterly Q-and-A open to Patriots season-ticket holders who are Foxborough residents – he, in the audience, and me, on stage talking ball with ESPN’s Mike Reiss and MassLive’s Mark Daniels.
Everything about this forum was decidedly different from the last such event, held on a rainy night in the dark hours of last December when, as you can imagine, the mood was as dreary as the chilly downpour outside. The Pats were then nearing a second straight 4-13 finish and another offseason of upheaval, as some attendees questioned the team’s commitment to winning (i.e., its spending).
Spring daylight now shone through the windows looking out onto the concourse of the stadium’s North end. On stage and in the crowd, cautious optimism mingled with healthy realism.
There was faith that head coach Mike Vrabel and a new but experienced staff will turn the team in the right direction. But while fans and panelists generally agreed that the defense should be improved, they voiced the same specific concerns about the offense.
Who will play left tackle? Will the Pats land a lead receiver? Sitting on high-top chairs – and their reporting on the matter – Mike and Mark broke down these most obvious positions of need.
At left tackle, everybody’s All-American from LSU, Will Campbell is viewed by the team as a viable option with the fourth overall pick in April’s draft, with or without the extra ⅜ of an inch his arms gained between his NFL Combine and Pro Day measurements.
At receiver, Stefon Diggs, whose 2024 campaign was cut in half by a torn ACL and had recently left a visit to Foxboro without a contract, remained a target in free agency. Mike conjectured what it might take for the Pats to entice Diggs to return, and stick around.
A few minutes later, just after 7 p.m., wearing a thick black beard and glasses under the bill of his navy blue Flying Elvis cap (no, it wasn’t Big Jim), the evening’s news breaker – to my ears, at least – read aloud from the smartphone held in his hand:
“ESPN Sources: Free-agent WR Stefon Diggs reached agreement on a three-year, $69 million deal including $26 million guaranteed with the New England Patriots.”
Adam Schefter had it first. Albert Breer would later report the official details.
As reaction spread around the room, the mood went from mildly to considerably upbeat. There was still understandable commentary and a fair query related to last year’s disappointing post-Drake Maye draft picks. But, unlike December, nobody questioned the team’s ‘commitment’ – not after signing Milton Williams and, now, Stefon Diggs.
At his best, few NFL receivers have been better than Diggs. By any measure.
His numbers include six 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the past seven years (an eight-game 2024 being the exception) and Pro Bowls in each of his four seasons in Buffalo from 2020-23. Multiply his 5.9 catches and 62.0 receiving yards a game last year for Houston by 17 (the number of contests in a full season) and you get, he gets, 100.3 receptions for 1,054 yards.
Against the Pats, Diggs always passed the eye test, flying by the secondary, regardless of coverage, especially in Buffalo’s colors. In 10 games for three teams, he was targeted 91 times and had 61 receptions for 779 yards (12.8 average) and eight touchdowns. Biannually as a Bill, we in New England got a first-hand look at his effect on Josh Allen, helping Buffalo’s quarterback ascend from erratic to elite.
But we also know how it ended for them in Orchard Park – discordantly, despite their early harmony. We recognize that age 31 (Diggs will be 32 by December) is thought to signal a receiver’s decline, although this notion is nuanced. And we understand that recovery from a torn ACL is usually long and hard and, frequently, incomplete.
Reporters, including Mike and Mark, have written and said that despite Diggs’ divorce from Buffalo, plenty of ex-teammates and coaches vouch for his locker-room character. The reputation preceding him includes tenacity as a competitor and route-running technician who emerged from the University of Maryland with the chip of a fifth-round pick (146th overall in 2015) on his shoulder and became a coverage-setting game-breaker.
On Friday afternoon, I shared space again with Mike and Mark, this time in the packed media workroom at Gillette Stadium. While Tuesday’s ‘update guy’ couldn’t join us, Diggs himself was there, accompanied by his mother, Stephanie, for an introductory press conference – without introduction.
He entered the room in designer jeans and a high-end, long-sleeved polo fit for Patriot Place – navy, with red and white horizontal stripes – walked straight to the mic and offered an unscripted opener: “How y’all doing?…Fire away.” Twenty minutes later, he walked away from the podium, turning back with a gentle wave and smile, “Nice to meet everyone.”
As first impressions go, Diggs did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those who see his signing in New England as good news. He leaned in as he listened to questions and offered answers. He punctuated sentences with smiles. He was polished, personable, at times introspective, all while projecting the confidence needed to beat NFL defenses scheming to stop him.
Of course, this first impression only goes so far as his first appearance in uniform. Nonetheless, the substance of what Diggs said – should it hold true – bodes well for the rebuild underway in Foxborough.
What does he think of Maye, the young quarterback often likened to a young Allen? “I’m excited…We played him last year, he showed a lot of fight, a fiery quarterback. I love the winning mindset. That’s something I get excited about, like to be around.”
And Vrabel? “A big draw for me, seeing that he played the game for a while and how well he played the game. I mean, he played with a standard. He played with moxie. He played with energy. He played with a team, individuals who were great at what they do. Being around greatness…trying to follow suit.”
Most importantly, considering that the Patriots bought high on an asset other teams were reportedly hoping to pay less, Diggs looks and sounds like he’s willing to buy in. And, in stark contrast to when JuJu Smith-Schuster showed up still on crutches as the Pats’ biggest-name free-agent get two springs ago, Diggs’ rehab from knee surgery is, he says, “ahead of schedule.”
Thinking of the leadership void in the Patriots’ receiver room (and on-field drills) since Julian Edelman retired, I was most interested in what Diggs had to say about the influence he expects to have on younger teammates, namely Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker. So I asked about it. In answering, he started with his own pro beginnings.
Before ever catching an NFL pass, Diggs sat and watched. His first three weeks as a Viking, his career stats were three healthy scratches. That early experience, he said, equips him to help younger teammates get past their trials to date.
“To help them with the lows is the biggest thing, because everything isn’t going to go your way. Sometimes you’ve got to learn that the hard way,” Diggs said. “But if you’re doing what you’re supposed to, you’re committed to it, the ball will bounce your way eventually. You just never know when.
“That’s something I learned when I was younger. I told myself that when I did get the opportunity to go between the lines I wasn’t going to come off (the field), because I’m going to do my job, I’m going to be where I’m supposed to be and I’m going to make plays.”
In Minnesota, Diggs was mentored by new Patriots receivers coach Todd Downing. An offensive coordinator in Buffalo was ex-Patriot assistant Brian Daboll. His position coach in Houston was Ben McDaniels, brother of New England play caller Josh McDaniels. Even as a Texan, Diggs was quizzing Ben about Josh’s offense.
He’ll know where he’s supposed to be as a Patriot. But will he get there as crisply, as swiftly as he once could? And how will he react over time if he’s there, when he’s supposed to be, but the ball isn’t?
For the Pats, hopefully the answer to the latter lies in his replies to two other questions.
How will his ultra competitiveness manifest itself differently in season No. 11 than in prior years? Going against opponents, Diggs says he’s less apt to let them knock him off his game.
“I feel like at this point,” he says, “the madder I get the more focused I get.”
And at this point, how does his stated maturity help him be a good teammate?
“I’ve done a lot of inner work up to this point,” Diggs said. “I feel like I’m in a great space and I’m trying to put that into the universe.”
Consider it done on this day. Delivered without bells and whistles, spoken softly by a new Patriot seemingly determined to make real news not with his arrival, but with his comeback.
Bob Socci has called play-by-play for the Patriots Radio Network on 98.5 The Sports Hub since 2013. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.
