Stefon

Diggs

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Diggs’ contract includes $26 million guaranteed. The 31-year-old tore his ACL in Week 8 last season and may not be ready for Week 1. However, the Patriots needed a veteran wide receiver to add to a middling group that saw no wideouts over 700 receiving yards and just DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte over 400 yards last season. With less than half of the deal guaranteed, the Pats mitigate the risk that Diggs does not return healthy and productive. He was a Pro-Bowler and 1,000-yard receiver each season from 2020-2023 with the Bills and caught 47 passes for 497 yards and three touchdowns for the Texans in 2024. Still a top target-earner when healthy, Diggs will aid QB Drake Maye’s development while the Pats grow the offense. Fantasy managers can treat Diggs as a stash that will have fantasy WR2 upside as the season goes on.

He’s also reportedly “already running full speed and gaining increased comfort cutting and changing direction” per Reiss’ league sources. Diggs tore his ACL in Week 8 and is questionable for the start of the season. The fact that New England’s beat writers are putting out positive press about Diggs certainly seems to point to the idea of him signing there as still in play following a visit last week. No team has a greater need at wideout than the Patriots right now, and to date this is the only visit that Diggs has taken. Reiss says that “neither side seems to be operating with heightened urgency at this point.”

According to Schultz, the visit between Diggs and the Patriots “was more of a ‘get to know you’ and ‘where you’re at medically’ type of meeting.” Diggs is still recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in Week 8 last season but had a line of 47-496-3 before his injury. He’ll turn 32 midway through next season, but assuming he’s healthy, Diggs would be an immediate upgrade for a Patriots offense that’s short on talent at receiver. He was fantasy’s eighth highest scoring wideout before his season-ending 2024 injury.

Diggs is in Foxborough to meet with the Patriots, who could use help at wide receiver. Prior to tearing his ACL in Week 8, Diggs caught 47 passes for 497 yards and three touchdowns for the Texans. The 31-year-old was a Pro-Bowler and 1,000-yard receiver all four seasons with the Bills prior to being dealt to the Texans. He has had a dry free agency market thus far as he heads into his age-32 season with uncertainty around his health for Week 1. The Patriots have missed out on Chris Godwin and others at the wide receiver position this offseason. Adding Diggs would give Drake Maye a reliable target, even if it takes a few games for Diggs to return and get into rhythm with the offense.

Diggs has had no reported visits thusfar and was met with a fairly cold market as the Texans moved on with a trade for Christian Kirk. The hole at wideout for the Raiders may be big enough to accommodate Diggs, who is entering his age-32 season, but they’ll probably need to be certain that Diggs’ rehab from a Week 8 torn ACL is going well. We’re struggling to see a place where Diggs could go and actually get the volume of targets he wants — New England, maybe? — so perhaps a one-year prove-it deal with the Raiders could be amenable for the former Bills and Vikings star.

The supporting evidence offered by Alexander is that Diggs has wanted to test 2025 free agency since he was traded — something that probably sounded a lot better to Diggs before he tore his ACL at midseason. Alexander also notes that Diggs is already set to count $16.2 million in dead money against the Texans cap. Houston could have folded some of that void year money into a new contract for Diggs before it officially hit the cap ledger on February 17th. Whether it is Diggs or not, the Texans will definitely need a new plan at WR2 this year with Tank Dell set to miss the majority or, perhaps, all of the season after his devastating knee injury in Week 16.

With Tee Higgins likely to be franchise-tagged by the Bengals and the Buccaneers reportedly hoping to re-sign Chris Godwin before he hits free agency, a once-promising wide receiver market suddenly looks a tad underwhelming for the receiver-needy Patriots. D.K. Metcalf, Chris Olave, and Cooper Kupp were names Graff threw around in a recent article on The Athletic, and given the nine draft picks they’re currently sitting on, it’s fair to say the Patriots have the draft capital to get a deal done. Who they trade for likely depends on the asking price, but the Patriots can’t go into a third-straight season with Demario Douglas as their top receiving target.

Speaking on Sports Radio 610 on Wednesday, Caserio spoke on Diggs’ impending free agency, saying that the team is “going to be open-minded” in the coming weeks while adding that the team will leave the door open for Diggs. While it’s possible this is Caserio saying the “right thing” in a public forum, there’s no denying the Texans could be thin at receiver in 2025. Nico Collins remains a stud, catching 68 passes for 1,006 yards and seven touchdowns in just 12 games, but the devastating knee injury Tank Dell suffered in Week 16 will sideline him for the start of next season, and it may already have his entire 2025 season in jeopardy. Diggs went for 47-496-3 in his eight games with the Texans before a torn ACL ended his season, but he still averaged 62 yards per game while being targeted on 23 percent of his routes run. He’ll be 31 at the start of next season, and while his best years are likely behind him, Diggs could make for a very nice WR2 for several teams and would give C.J. Stroud a familiar and reliable target for one more season opposite Collins.

He said that it was a place he’d be excited about staying, telling reporters “I don’t know what the future holds but I definitely got a home in Houston, and I love those guys over there. They’re good people.” Diggs’ market is uncertain after the 31-year-old tore his ACL in Week 8. It’s possible he comes back to Houston on a short-term contract, but he might be a better fit in a different offense in 2025, one where he’s not quite so obviously the WR2 to Nico Collins.

That is, unfortunately, what it looked like on Sunday after Diggs limped off the NRG Stadium turf. Diggs will be a free agent after the season and will probably be looked at as a reclamation project as a 31-year-old rehabbing a torn ACL. For the Texans currently, Tank Dell will push into a more featured role in the passing game and will likely remain a fantasy WR2/3 even when Nico Collins comes back from a hamstring injury that has him on injured reserve. Dalton Schultz has also pushed higher in the target pecking order even if the lines aren’t impressive and will become a borderline TE1 until Collins returns. Robert Woods will likely be the main wideout, but splitting snaps with Xavier Hutchinson and John Metchie III means you likely can’t trust a Houston WR2/3 until proven otherwise.