Pats Pulpit
Their first offseason under new head coach Mike Vrabel saw the New England Patriots overhaul large parts of the roster. Arguably the highest-profile player added through this process was wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
The former Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills star, who spent 2024 with the Houston Texans, was signed to a three-year, $63.5 million contract in March. The deal’s structure does give the team plenty of security and potential outs after each season, but the investment was nonetheless a vote of confidence in Diggs and his ability to come back from the torn ACL he had suffered just five months prior.
On Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, Diggs made his comeback from that injury and first ever appearance with the “Flying Elvis” on his helmet. While his Patriots debut did not go as planned overall — New England lost 20-13 to start the year 0-1 — the 31-year-old had plenty of positive moments.
Catching six of the seven passes thrown his way for 57 yards and a trio of first downs, he was a critical part of the Patriots’ offense and one of quarterback Drake Maye’s favorite targets.
“It was my first game back. I was just happy to be back,” Diggs said after the game. “It is a lot of plays out there. We got a lot of players, too. So, doing my job is important to me, and I am continuing to do that.”
Only fellow wideout Kayshon Boutte and tight end Hunter Henry, who saw eight throws apiece, were in the spotlight more than Diggs — despite the latter playing a significantly lower number of snaps than either: Boutte was on the field for 58 of 71 snaps (82%); Henry for 66 (93%). Diggs, for comparison, played 40 snaps (56%) while the team was seemingly trying to ease him back into the mix.
On Sunday, Diggs played his usual role as an inside-out receiver. Of his 40 snaps, 29 came on the perimeter with 11 more seeing him align in the slot.
He did not light up the scoreboard, but his targets, receptions and yards were very much in line with his averages as a Texan last year (a season he was on track to gain over 1,000 yards). In 2024, Diggs saw an average of 8.0 targets before tearing his ACL, catching 5.9 passes for 62.0 yards per game. The circumstances are somewhat similar this year — he also had to adapt to a new offense after his offseason arrival — but there is one main difference: in 2024, he did not have to recover from major knee injury.
So far and as evidenced by his role on Sunday, that process and his preparation as a whole have gone well for Diggs. It is what allowed him to play a substantial role in his comeback to begin with.
“I just missed it,” he said. “I had a couple in there where I got tackled. I missed getting tackled. You know, I hate getting tackled,...
