While his departure from Buffalo a year earlier was messy, Stefon Diggs leaving the Houston Texans for the New England Patriots during the 2025 offseason was devoid of any drama.
Leading into this week’s divisional playoff meeting between his current and former team, controversy is therefore not on the menu for Diggs. As he told reporters at his Gillette Stadium locker on Wednesday, he had an enjoyable stint in Houston, even though his 2024 season was cut short by injury.
“It was cool. I had a great
time,” Diggs said. “I have a lot of respect for those guys over there. Everybody, including GM, top-down coaches. Have a lot of respect for them.
“Unfortunately for me, I got hurt, but fortunate enough I landed here. So, I feel like, growing pains, you learn from a lot of things. that you go through. I trust where I am right now, where God’s placed me, and I’m I’m happy to be where I’m at. Learned a lot from it, though. I had a good time at Houston.”
Diggs was traded from Buffalo to Houston in April 2024 and quickly became a mainstay in the Texans’ offense, both as a volume receiver and a team leader. However, in October, while on track for another 1,000-yard season, he suffered a non-contact ACL tear that put an end to his season.
The story from that point on is well known. Diggs had a successful rehab, joined the Patriots on an incentive-laden three-year, $63.5 million free agency deal, and played a pivotal role in his new team returning to the playoffs and quarterback Drake Maye taking a massive leap in his second season.
And while the 32-year-old is focused on the task at hand rather than a sentimental journey down memory lane, he is looking back fondly at working with the Texans and their coaching staff. One of its members stands out in particular given his own connection to New England, wide receivers coach Ben McDaniels, the brother of Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
According to Diggs, both brothers have had a positive impact on him and his career.
“They’re a lot similar in regards to how they’re working and the time that they put in and how serious they take it,” Diggs said. “They love football. I can tell it’s a little brother rivalry there. We’ll see how Sunday goes if they throw the gloves off or something or would talk to each other. But they definitely have a lot of similarities on how they approach the game and how serious they are.
“I appreciated my time in Houston. He’s somebody that I actually have a lot of respect for. Spent a lot of time with him, learned a lot — how they do things and this kind of thing. I had a good time there, but I still think they got the older/little brother thing, so we’ll see how it goes.“
