Should The Patriots Bring Back Stefon Diggs?

The elephant in the room here with Diggs is off the field, where he has an impending court case for allegedly strangling his personal chef. Diggs pleaded not guilty to the charges on February 14th, and he has a pretrial hearing on April 1st. If found guilty of these charges, there’s no doubt that he shouldn’t be brought back and the NFL should hand him at least a multiple-game suspension.

On the field, Diggs had moments where he was extremely boom or bust. He couldn’t consistently get open towards the end of the season, including most importantly, the playoffs. Now, all of that isn’t on Diggs; Drake Maye had an incredibly underwhelming postseason, and the offensive line was brutal as well.

In four playoff games, Diggs combined for 14 receptions, 110 receiving yards, and one touchdown. That comes out to 3.5 receptions and 27.5 receiving yards a game, not great for someone who’s anointed as the number one wide receiver on the team.

The hard truth here is the fact that Diggs is no longer a number one wide receiver. He profiles as a fine number two nowadays at 32 years old and another year removed from a torn ACL.

Positives With Diggs

Diggs was the leader that New England needed, had a good connection with Maye, and showed up in some big-time regular-season games as well. He had two drops all season, was ninth in receptions, 15th in receiving yards, and was 10th in Passer Rating When Targeted at 113.9 according to PFF.

There was a legit lethal connection between Diggs and Maye, as they had the highest completion percentage to each other throughout the season. You can instantly look back to his 10 catches for 146 yards in Week 5 vs the Buffalo Bills and his nine catches for 138 yards in Week 16 vs the Baltimore Ravens.

It’s clear that head coach Mike Vrabel loved everything about Diggs, and he was great at instilling confidence in everyone, including the wide receiver room. A hole would definitely be left by his departure, and someone would instantly need to pick that up.

Diggs also had a great touchdown catch in the divisional round against the Houston Texans. A tough catch against an elite defense isn’t anything to scoff at even if his postseason didn’t go the way we all wanted it to.

End Of My Stefon Diggs Rant

All in all, the Patriots need to upgrade their wide receiver, regardless of whether Diggs is brought back. They simply need more star power because Kayshon Boutte, Pop Douglas, Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams, and Efton Chism III can’t be asked to be such.

Diggs’ court case will tell the tale initially on whether he should be brought back; if found not guilty, they can also restructure his contract as well. His current cap hit for 2026 at $26.5 million would currently be the 11th biggest cap hit among wide receivers, which is egregious, respectfully.

If released post June 1st, the Patriots would save $20.8 million. This is why the news of George Pickens and Alec Pierce most likely being franchise tagged is brutal for New England. They now need to look at trades for someone like AJ Brown or draft someone this offseason with star-level talent. If not, they can throw some darts at free agent wide receivers like Romeo Doubs or Mike Evans.