New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots took the field for their first training camp practice on Wednesday morning, and all eyes were on the team’s new star wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Everyone is curious to see how Diggs will fare in his return from a torn ACL, but after practice, Diggs admitted his biggest issue on Wednesday had nothing to do with his return from injury.
The Patriots signed Diggs to a three-year, $69 million contract in free agency this offseason, even though his 2024 campaign came to a premature end when he tore his ACL in Week 8 with the Houston Texans. In eight games last year, Diggs caught 47 passes for 496 yards and three touchdowns.
Despite that, Diggs got the green light to practice with the team from the start of training camp, indicating that he has a real shot of suiting up for Week 1 of the season. Of course, that’s contingent on him making it through training camp without suffering any sort of injury issues.
While Diggs’ injury situation is fresh on everyone’s mind, it wasn’t what he was worried about during New England’s first practice. As it turns out, Diggs is primarily focused on learning his new team’s playbook, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
“I’m still grasping it right now, lot of studying I’m doing,” Diggs said when speaking to reporters, per CLNS. “I’m excited about it. I’ve seen a lot of receivers in this offense have a lot of success. We got a lot of weapons. Still learning the book as of right now, but I’m super excited.”
The fact that Diggs is still learning the playbook isn’t all that noteworthy. What is noteworthy is that his injury situation doesn’t seem to be on his mind at all, which should bode well for him as he continues to get ready for the new season.
If Diggs can immediately become second-year quarterback Drake Maye’s top target on offense, the floor for New England’s offense will be raised significantly right off the bat. Even with his injury status being accounted for, the team is counting on him to play a big role for their offense in 2025.
It’s only one day of practice, but so far, things are looking good on the injury front for Diggs. He will look to continue mastering the playbook when he takes the field with the Patriots for their next practice on Thursday at 10:15 a.m. ET.
