Only one year was the right amount of Stefon Diggs for the Patriots

Story by

Story by
Only one year was the right amount of Stefon Diggs for the Patriots

Matt Vautour · MassLive

Fri, Mar 6, 2026 ·

5 min read

About Our Ads

Stefon Diggs was an important football player in the revival of the Patriots, but New England is unlikely to regret letting him go.

The adage better to get out too early than too late feels especially true with Diggs.

Putting aside his legal issues for a moment, Diggs' year in Foxborough was an important one. He was a big-name receiver who joined the Patriots after other big-name receivers Calvin Ridley, Brandon Aiyuk didn't want to come to Foxborough.

Diggs did come and he thrived. He worked hard to come back quickly from the ACL tear that finished his season a year ago for the Texans. He caught 85 passes for 1,013 yards and four touchdowns. He was a leader and a role model for the younger receivers.

But the biggest thing he did was legitimizing Drake Maye . Diggs was patient early and praised Maye as the second-year QB quickly evolved this year.

There will be receivers this offseason, who will be more willing to come to the Patriots because of Diggs' success and the stamp of approval he gave Maye. They'll believe they can thrive with Maye because Diggs did. That's significant.

But...

Diggs was ordinary in the playoffs. When the opposing defenses got better, he struggled to get open. Diggs was a non-factor in the Super Bowl.

Diggs will turn 33 during the season next year. It's not old, but there's wear on his tires.

When Diggs signed late with the Patriots, skeptics were concerned about his history. He forced his way out of Minnesota out of frustration at not getting the ball enough.

He got the ball an average of 111.3 times a year over four seasons in Buffalo. His shouting incident with Josh Allen in the 2022 playoffs, and his banishment from mini-camp due to a dispute in 2023, lowlighted an often tumultuous tenure in Western New York.

By the end, he wanted out and the Bills wanted him out. They took on a whopping $31.096 million dead cap hit to unload him to the Texans for the 2024 season.

Diggs was a good player and a good influence on C.J. Stroud in his one season in Houston before his ACL injury. The Patriots hoped for and got much the same player last year.

BETTING:The Patriots are listed at +800 to win the AFC on Fanatics for next season. Our complete Fanatics Sportsbook review shows you how to register and navigate their site. Our comprehensive NFL futures betting guide will help you learn about how to bet on NFL futures.

Maybe Diggs has matured. Maybe New England and Houston were better fits for him than Minnesota or Buffalo. Or maybe one year was a short enough stint in both places to avoid tension.

Either way, after the Patriots' struggles in the playoffs, it was clear their receivers weren't good enough. Diggs was the Patriots best receiver last year, but he wasn't a bona fide No. 1 option.

If New England is going to stay in contention against a tougher schedule in 2026, they need to improve and upgrade at several spots. That includes receiver. They need somebody better than Diggs. Maybe he'd still be a Patriot if he reworked his contract , but if Diggs feels underutilized and underpaid, he's a disruption risk.

And then there's his legal issues. Diggs is facing charges of assault on a woman working as his private chef. That could lead to legal and NFL discipline.

If Diggs is found guilty, the Patriots will be glad not to have him anymore and will be glad that the verdict will come down when he's no longer on their team. If he's found not guilty, New England still parted ways with an aging receiver who faded in the playoffs. And they gained $16.8 million of cap space in the process.

There's a good chance the Patriots will be glad both that they had Diggs for a year and that they didn't extend the partnership any longer than that.

But that only holds up if there's a corresponding move. The only way this is a net positive on the field is if the Patriots get better at receiver. They needed help even with Diggs. They need more help without him.

Outtakes from a busy week ...

Here's to you Mr. Robinson?

For good reason, there is talk about the Patriots adding Alec Pierce or A.J. Brown at receiver. Landing either one would be a huge get. But free agent Wan'dale Robinson, who had 92 catches for 1,014 yards for the Giants could be a terrific under-the-radar target.

The 5-foot-8 pass catcher could give the Patriots an outstanding slot receiver, playing a similar role to what Wes Welker and Julian Edelman did in Josh McDaniels' offense.

UMass' MAC problem illustrated perfectly

When UMass joined the MAC to give its woeful football program a home, they tried to spin the move as not catastrophic for its men's basketball program.

Miami (Ohio) is illustrating exactly the problem that UMass and all MAC men's basketball teams have. The Red Hawks are 33-0 and on the NCAA Tournament bubble if they don't win the MAC Tournament.

Miami doesn't have any notable wins because good teams were smart enough not to play them. And the MAC annually offers no games that will get the committee's attention. The MAC is ranked 17th in conference NET. That's five spots below the Ivy League and 10 below the Atlantic 10.

So as great as they've been, one loss in the MAC tournament would negate the rest of their season.

The Top 5

Ryan Coogler said "Sinners" was a stand alone movie with no prequels or sequels to come. There is no actual franchise, which is too bad because, he left breadcrumbs out there for some potentially amazing ones.

The Top 5 "Sinners" Movies Ryan Coogler should consider making

5— Prequel: Origin story for Annie, the Hoodoo Queen

4— Sequel: Stack and Mary - A story of how they lived and thrived as vampires after the events of Sinners.

3— Prequel: Rocky Road to Dublin - The life of Remmick, the lead Irish vampire before the showdown in Mississippi

2— Prequel or Spinoff: The Choctaw vampire hunters

1— Prequel: Sinners Chicago - How Smoke and Stack amassed their fortune by robbing the Chicago crime syndicates.

Real Jeopardy! Clue

Sports clues from actual editions of America's favorite quiz show. As always, mind the date

CATEGORY: Green Stuff - $400

Date: April 13, 2013

Temperamental but talented baseball pitcher Joaquin Andujar hails from this Caribbean nation

— Answer below

Today in Massachusetts Sports History

March 6

2015 —Shane Walsh scores the winning goal in the fifth overtime to lead UMass to a win over Notre Dame in the longest game in Division I hockey history.

Watch it here.

Lightning round

In looking at numbers for Stefon Diggs and Wan'dale Robinson above, it occurs to me that the NFL should have a stat column for first down catches and first down rushes. Those are often the tough catches underneath in traffic and the tough runs against stacked boxes on plays that aren't designed to go for big yardage.
There might be better deals for the same Bruins' assets this summer than there are on Friday.
Cooper Flagg's return to New England as a Maverick would have been a huge deal on Friday, but he'll be all-but-forgotten with Jayson Tatum back.
There's a new replica Rocky Statue in the Philadelphia airport. That's right. Now there's two fake statues of a fake boxer. There should be only one Rocky statue, the one on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. To see it you have to earn it. If you want to see the Italian Stallion, you have to run to the top. It can't be something that you pause for a selfie with between Hudson News and Auntie Anne's pretzels.
Paralympic medals have Braille on them for the first time this year in Italy. That's a nice touch.
Best of luck in the next stage of retirement to old friend Howie Davis, who was the longtime official scorer for basketball games at both UMass and Springfield College. A lot of institutional memory walked off the floor when he closed the book for the last time.

Real Jeopardy! Question:

What is the Dominican Republic?

Finally...

Happy Day of the Dude and National Oreo Day and to those who celebrate. It's also National Spray Tan day, but you'll get no festiveness from me.

Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

Mobilize your Website

View Site in Mobile | Classic

Share by: