Stefon Diggs thankful to be back to football, but first clears the air with New England media
Stefon Diggs is ready to go for the New England Patriots in Week 1. But first, he had to squash a bit of a beef on Wednesday.
Before he could talk about playing against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1, Diggs had to get something off his chest Wednesday. He didn't speak with reporters much during training camp or the preseason, as he held court just once ahead of Wednesday's press conference inside Gillette Stadium. He did appear on the podcast "Scoop City" with The Athletic's Diana Russini, where he played coy about his Week 1 availability.
Diggs said Wednesday his non-committal for Week 1 was on purpose, ad he didn't want to give the Raiders any information a few months out. And his media silence this summer was by design, as he focused on his recovery and learning the New England playbook.
But after that interview, Diggs was referred to as a "pain in the posterior" by NBC Sports Boston's Phil Perry. Diggs didn't like that portrayal, and wanted to get it off his chest ahead of the season. He did so in a straight-forward and professional manner on Wednesday.
"I do kind of want to address some things that happened throughout camp. Obviously, I look at the media as a whole, and I kind of approach this thing as professional as possible," Diggs began. "So Phil and Tom [E. Curran], I don't want to mistakenly say the wrong names, but my words, I had some conversations, and I had some interviews throughout camp. Some of my words were misconstrued. I don't know if me talking to another individual. I don't know. It was kind of regurgitated in another way, or taken out of context.
"I think I was referred to as a pain in the ass, pain in the posterior, but I'm going to say exactly what it really was. Obviously, I don't want to come across as that," continued Diggs. "I want to be very clear. I'm an adult. I'll apologize. I'm not up here to ego trip. I'm not up here to rub anybody the wrong way or say anything for clickbait. If I rub anybody wrong, I really want to apologize moving forward.
"Obviously, we have the media to player relationship, and be as professional as I can be. I want to make myself available each and every week," he said. "Obviously, I don't want to make this thing abrasive. It can be as seamless as possible, and it also can be abrasive. I don't want to get up here and not answer questions or make anybody feel uncomfortable. I mean, obviously it's a world we live in, like, if somebody calls you an [expletive] and then they start acting like one. No, you don't. I won't. That's not me, so I want to apologize if I ever came across as an [expletive] to anybody. But moving forward, I kind of want to get things off on the right foot. We're going to spend a lot of time together and I kind of want to give, obviously, a good interview if I'm asked questions. I don't want to give you the vanilla answers or no answer at all. So moving forward, hopefully this relationship can grow and we build on something special. Obviously, it's going to be a long season, so we're going to spend a lot of time together."
The two reporters apologized to Diggs for their portrayal of him after the Scoop City interview, and Diggs was all smiles the rest of the way Wednesday.
Diggs ready to get back to football
It's only been 10 months since Diggs tore his ACL as a member of the Houston Texans. But he's worked hard to get back and is ready to catch a lot of passes for the Patriots in 2025.
Diggs doesn't expect to be on a snap count Sunday afternoon, when New England kicks off the season against the Raiders at Gillette Stadium.
"Hell no," Diggs said emphatically, before he tempered his reaction a bit. "I don't know. I don't make the rules. We'll see how it goes, but I really hope not."
No matter how much he plays, Diggs said he's thankful to be back to doing what he loves.
"Ten months without football is rough. It's my day job, my love, my passion. I went without it for a very long time. Just being in front of you guys, I appreciate where I'm at right now," he said. "You get back to doing what you love, I'm around some new individuals and it's fun and new. It's going to be an adjustment, but we're trying to get this show on the road and start 1-0. I'm just thankful to be back playing football, running into people and catching the football."
Diggs was cleared for action ahead of training camp but appeared limited on most days. He said that was the plan put in place by the team, given his quick return from such a big injury. But he's ramped up his action -- and production -- as of late.
"It's my 11th camp. I was coming back for an injury. Coach [Mike Vrabel] and [wide receivers] coach Todd [Downing], [offensive coordinator] Josh [McDaniels], it was more mental reps, make sure I'm getting the mental reps, because the bullets are going to be flying real, real soon," explained Diggs. "Prior to that, it was like, they didn't want to put too much of a workload on me. Obviously, I wanted it. But they were just being smart. I've been around for a little. I never forgot to play football, but taking those mental reps are super important for me."
Diggs said he's been stacking bricks every day as he builds himself back up, and is feeling great heading into his first season with the Patriots.
"A healthy me is a happy me," he said with a booming smile.
The Patriots signed Diggs to a three-year deal in the offseason to come in and give second-year quarterback Drake Maye a top veteran pass-catcher. Maye has enjoyed working with Diggs, and saw the receiver really ramp things up as the regular season got closer.
"It's been awesome to bond with such a high-level player," Maye said of Diggs on Wednesday. "I think it's going to continue to show as the game week and game day come closer and closer, just kind of how much he's elevating his game and elevating his practice style. So, I'm looking forward to getting out there with him on Sunday. I think you'll see good energy from Stef, and I'm looking forward to getting him the rock and letting him do his thing."
While Diggs has a reputation for waiting the football as much as possible, he said that's not how it's going to work in New England. He's not going to worry about how many targets he gets, as long as the team is scoring points and winning games.
"It's a different offense and we have a lot of weapons. I'm not going in like, 'I need this.' No, it's not that kind of party. We have a lot of guys who can make plays at a high level," said Diggs.
Diggs should still see plenty of targets and the Patriots are hoping he find the end zone a lot in 2025. He's shown some pretty creative touchdown celebrations in the past, but didn't want to get too far ahead of himself when asked what he has planned for the upcoming season.
"I think we need to do the hard part first, like catch the ball or get open," joked Diggs. "Speaking hypothetically, when we do touch that end zone, just try to get no taunting. We went over that today. No thumbs. They said no thumbs."
Tune in to New England's Week 1 clash with the Las Vegas Raiders on WBZ-TV -- the television home of the New England Patriots! Pregame coverage kicks off at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, the Pats and the Raiders go at it at 1 p.m., and we'll wrap it all up on Patriots 5th Quarter on TV38 after the game.