FOXBOROUGH - Stefon Diggs was held out of Friday night’s preseason opening win against the Washington Commanders.
That didn’t necessarily send up any flares about something being amiss. Diggs, who was on the sidelines during the game in blue sweats and T-shirt, might be ahead of schedule with respect to his recovery from ACL surgery, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Patriots want to force the issue.
There’s no need to push the 31-year-old before the real bullets start to fly, so that makes sense.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, however, opened up the possibility that it was something more given his cryptic answer when asked about Diggs during his Monday morning interview on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show.
Vrabel was asked if holding Diggs out of Friday’s game was a precautionary move.
The response?
“Coach’s decision,” Vrabel said.
One might interpret that as being something beyond a health issue. Or not. He didn’t provide any more details.
Diggs was a full participant at practice Monday.
Wide receivers coach Todd Downing spoke highly of Diggs during an availability with the Patriots assistant coaches.
He didn’t make it sound like there was a problem.
“I think where he’s at in his process right now is where we want him to be,” Downing said. “You know, he’s working hard when he’s out there with his reps, and you see him making some plays.
“The big thing with him is understanding that you can’t confuse results with the process. So if there’s a day that he doesn’t have a whole bunch of production, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do his job and get open.”
Downing explained the process for Diggs was learning the system and learning what Drake Maye and Josh McDaniels want from him, and making sure he’s in the right spot.
“As he continues to refine that, I think he’ll stay on the trajectory he’s expected to be in.”
Diggs was absent for the start of last week’s joint practice with the Commanders, before joining in.
There was no reason given, but it was reported, that was part of the plan.
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