Stefon Diggs is back home.
The Maryland native officially signed with the Washington Commanders and practiced for the first time Friday. He has a one-year contract worth up to $12 million, according to a person familiar with the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the terms are not public.
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It’s a low-risk, high-reward move for Washington. Diggs, meanwhile, not only gets another chance to try to win at the highest level but is closer to his roots again.
“I want to put on for my city,” Diggs said Friday. “It definitely means a lot to me. It pulls on your heartstrings a little bit. I know the city is behind me; I know I’ve got a support system here, and I know I’ve got a lot of love here. All I want to do is make people proud, make the city proud, and the best way you can do that is go far. I don’t know where — I’m not going to say where, you don’t want to jinx it or nothing — but I want to go far, and I want to be consistent and be a puzzle piece to this team in a positive way.”
Diggs, who will turn 33 in November, has been one of the best wide receivers in the NFL since he was drafted by the Vikings in 2015. From 2018 to 2023, he had six straight seasons of 1,000 or more receiving yards. He failed to meet that mark in 2024 after suffering a torn ACL eight games into the season, but he bounced back last year with 85 catches for 1,013 yards and four touchdowns across 17 games with the New England Patriots.
The Patriots released Diggs in March, and he went unsigned through the initial wave of free agency, so he was inactive during offseason workouts. He spent that time working out twice a day on a regular basis to keep himself in shape.
“My biggest thing is I woke up in the morning and I worked,” Diggs said. “It doesn’t matter where I go, it’s more so when you get there, are you ready? Is your body physically ready? Are you in a good space mentally? … I wanted to be prepared.”
Excluding the 2024 season when he got injured, Diggs has led his teams in targets and has been the clear No. 1 option every year since 2019. That will be different with the Commanders given the presence of Terry McLaurin.
McLaurin, a second-team all-pro in 2024, is the first wideout named to an all-pro team Diggs has played with since Cole Beasley in 2021. While Diggs and McLaurin are on the wrong side of 30, they should remain a potent receiving duo.
Diggs brings a ton of versatility to the table. He will start as the “Z” wide receiver, who lines up off the line of scrimmage, but he also will spend a lot of time working from the slot. He believes his skill set can help unlock the offense.
“If you want the ball, you got to be able to move around,” Diggs said. “I mean, you can go play one spot, but they cloud coverage and they double, and that makes it harder. It’s good being around other players that can ball. Like, it’s going to be hard to double somebody in this offense: You’ve got guys that can make plays, you guys can make plays out of the backfield, you’ve got a mobile quarterback.”
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The Commanders were also impressed by Diggs’s leadership ability. Although McLaurin has guided the wide receiver room for years now, there’s nothing wrong with having another player capable of teaching younger players the ropes.
“He’s a tremendous player,” head coach Dan Quinn said Friday. “From what I’ve heard, more and more, this week is about what kind of leader he’s been to younger players on the teams that he’s been a part of and the energy he brings, not just to the field but also to the sidelines.”
Assuming health, the potential downside with Diggs is his history of off-the-field problems. He has had multiple legal issues and a criminal case within the past year. In December, he was accused of assault and battery by his former chef, Jamila Adams.
While Diggs was found not guilty of all charges in May, he’s also facing lawsuits from former girlfriend Mulan Hernandez and former associate Christopher Griffith. When contacted by The Washington Post on Friday, an NFL spokesman confirmed the league isn’t investigating Diggs for potential discipline.
The Commanders have recently shown a low tolerance for off-the-field problems for individuals within the franchise. Just before the start of training camp last month, they fired tight ends coach Ben Steele following an arrest for DWI in June. Quinn and general manager Adam Peters have stressed the importance of character, and those same standards will be applied to Diggs, they say.
“For Stef or any of the guys, we’ve got a really good process that we go through when we bring players in,” Quinn said. “So, we were certainly comfortable with that process, and we’re excited to have him.”
Diggs was limited in practice Friday as he starts learning offensive coordinator David Blough’s scheme and working himself into football shape. As he gets more comfortable, he will get more opportunities to put what he can do on display. He made clear that his expectations for himself are high.
“In this profession, in this job, you’ve got to exude confidence,” Diggs said. “My numbers have always spoken for themselves. No matter who you like or what you say, the production has been there. … I say that humbly. I say that from the space of I’ve worked extremely hard and I’ve always been productive. … If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.”
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