Stefon Diggs watches from the sidelines.
Getty
Stefon Diggs is expected to be "ready to go" on Week One.
When the New England Patriots signed four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs as a free agent in late March, they knew they were treading dangerous waters.
But on Sunday, first-year head coach Mike Vrabel sounded an optimistic note on his expectations for the mercurial star who, until a torn ACL cut his 2024 season short after eight games, had recorded six straight seasons with over 1,000 yards in receptions — including a career-high 1,535 yards in 2020, his first of four seasons with the Buffalo Bills after five with the Minnesota Vikings.
Patriots Need Receiver Help For Maye
The Patriots had already been shunned by Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Chris Godwin, who accepted only about two-thirds of the cash offered him by the Patriots to stay on Florida’s Gulf Coast. They desperately needed a No. 1 wide-out to support second-year quarterback Drake Maye, and they knew it.
So they turned to Diggs, handing him a three-year, $69 million deal — albeit one with some highly team-friendly provisions such as an option for the Patriots to cancel the contract after one season.
Stefon Diggs #texans
Injured on this play, non contact injury. Doesn’t appear to be any hyperextension or valgus but this isn’t the best angle. Hope he’s okay pic.twitter.com/74BMsNVt5i
— Tom Christ, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT (@FantasyInjuryT) October 27, 2024
Speedy Recovery For Veteran Pass-Catcher
The team at the time had no real idea how quickly Diggs would recover from the catastrophic knee injury he suffered last October 27, midway through his lone season with the Houston Texans. As it turned out, Diggs surprised the entire NFL by recovering enough in just nine months to begin training camp with his new teammates on July 23.
Nine months is considered by sports medicine professionals to be the minimum recovery period for injuries of the type suffered by Diggs.
Diggs’ Personal Life Also an Annoyance for Vrabel
Then there were Diggs’ off-field shenanigans to worry about — a concern that cropped up within weeks of his signing when a video surfaced showing Diggs on a yacht over Memorial Day weekend, appearing to distribute a bag of unidentified pink powder to a group of scantily clad young women.
The video mini-scandal led to feverish media speculation that Vrabel would simply cut Diggs rather than deal with the headache he sometimes causes. But that did not happen, and Vrabel’s lone public comment on the imbroglio was that, “the message will be the same for all our players, that we’re trying to make great decisions.”
Vrabel’s Clear Statement of Expectations For Diggs
Most important, however was Diggs’ own attitude — an attitude that seemed ambiguous at best when, in an August 13 interview, Diggs was asked if he would be willing and able to play in the Week One Patriots game against the visiting Las Vegas Raiders, and Diggs’ response was, essentially, “well see.”
“I don’t know how I feel about it. We’ll see,” he said at the time. “Coaches aren’t too excited. I’m not too excited. I’m just trying to take a day by day. So we’ll see. It looks like we just don’t know where it’s gonna go.”
But on Sunday, Vrabel appears to remove any doubt about Diggs’ status for the opening game, and what he expects from the 31-year-old on that day.
“That he’s ready to go, and that he helps our offense, and that he helps Drake,” Vrabel stated, bluntly.
The former Tennessee Titans head coach who was hired in January to helm the Patriots said that he was not worried about the fact that Diggs did not play any snaps in the team’s three preseason games, due to the knee injury.
“I think where he’s at, he’s been able to string days together,” Vrabel said, commenting further on Diggs’ status. “I’m just trying to get each guy that they need to be ready for the season.”