{"id":228439,"date":"2025-07-23T01:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/228439\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T01:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:15:10","slug":"setting-expectations-for-stefon-diggs-in-patriots-wrs-return-from-injury-nbc-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/228439\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting expectations for Stefon Diggs in Patriots WR\u2019s return from injury \u2013 NBC Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"

There will be no shortage of storylines to monitor when New England Patriots training camp officially begins on Wednesday. From position battles<\/a> to how quarterback Drake Maye looks in Year 2, there will be plenty to take away from the practices behind Gillette Stadium over the next month.<\/p>\n

The biggest storyline, if you ask NBC Sports Boston’s Patriots insider Phil Perry, is star wide receiver Stefon Diggs being a full-go. Head coach Mike Vrabel said Tuesday<\/a> that Diggs has “no limitations” despite suffering a torn ACL last season.<\/p>\n

“The number one storyline, because I think this guy might be able to impact their season in a way that nobody else can outside of Drake Maye, is the health and readiness of Stefon Diggs,” Perry said on the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast.<\/p>\n

“He’s full-go, he’s ready to go, he’s not on PUP. It is stunning, quite frankly. Especially given that he’s gonna be 32 in November and he is a guy who suffered this injury midseason last season.”<\/p>\n

The Patriots signed Diggs to give Maye a true No. 1 target, but what can we expect from an aging wideout coming off a devastating injury? Perry and fellow Pats insider Tom E. Curran shared their thoughts during the new episode.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd0a\u00a0Patriots Talk Podcast: Digging deep on ‘the good, the bad, and the repeated questions’ of Vrabel’s first presser of camp\u00a0|\u00a0Listen & Subscribe<\/a>\u00a0| Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

Curran believes Diggs will be a focal point of New England’s offense and live up to expectations as a go-to weapon for Maye.<\/p>\n

“Because all roads lead to Stefon Diggs,” Curran explained. “You’re not gonna look at Kendrick Bourne. You’re not gonna look necessarily at DeMario Douglas. With Stefon Diggs, you’re probably not gonna look at Hunter Henry. You’re not gonna look at Kayshon Boutte. You’re not gonna look at Kyle Williams. When you’re Drake Maye and you go back and it’s third-and-6 and I need eight (yards), you’re gonna look for Stefon Diggs first. …<\/p>\n

“If I’m Drake Maye, I’m looking at a guy who was on pace for 1,000 yards last year, has been a 1,500-yard receiver in the past. And I think if he’s healthy, I would put the over-under on his production at 70 catches, 1,050 yards.”<\/p>\n

Perry isn’t as optimistic. While he acknowledges Diggs has the talent to bounce back from his injury, he notes that not many receivers have done so, especially at his age.<\/p>\n

“Receivers coming off of torn ACLs in general, never mind guys who are over 30, have a hard time bouncing back and being themselves the following season,” Perry said.<\/p>\n

“… Wes Welker, 2009, tears (his ACL) at the very end of the season, somehow is back for the beginning of the following season and has about a 900-yard year. Welker was closer in age to Diggs, (Julian) Edelman in 2018 was closer in age to Diggs in terms of being near the end of their careers.<\/p>\n

“Those guys knew the offense they were in like the backs of their hands and they were playing with the best quarterback of all time and they shared a brain. That’s not happening here in New England for Stefon Diggs.”<\/p>\n

Also in the episode:<\/p>\n

The guys share their reaction to Mike Vrabel\u2019s overall tenure in his first press conference of training camp<\/p>\n

What did you make of Vrabel\u2019s response to a question about Christian Gonzalez\u2019s on-field performance?<\/p>\n

Vrabel breaks down where the team stands with taking advantage of \u2018bad football\u2019 heading into camp<\/p>\n

\u201cHeat Index Bracket Challenge\u201d: Which one is more on the hot seat this season?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There will be no shortage of storylines to monitor when New England Patriots training camp officially begins on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,6123],"class_list":{"0":"post-228439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-newengland","12":"tag-newenglandpatriots","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-patriots","15":"tag-patriots-talk-podcast"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114899905744519511","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}