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Stefon Diggs has basically been a wanted man since his rookie year turned heads back in 2015. Teams have circled him. Money has followed him. That’s just been the pattern.
Even last March, coming off a torn ACL, Diggs still landed a three-year, $63.5 million deal with the New England Patriots. He then went out and posted 1,013 receiving yards, then played in a Super Bowl for New England. Go back one more year before that, and he was the centerpiece of a trade between the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans that had the entire league talking.
So yeah – this offseason feels different. Weird, even.
Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowler, got cut by the Patriots and as of mid-July, he’s still sitting there unsigned. There’s more than one reason why. He’s been dealing with lawsuits, one of which saw him found not guilty of assault and strangulation back in May. Then there’s his relationship with Cardi B, which brought a wave of attention that had nothing to do with football. And age has entered the conversation too – he turns 33 in November. Yes, he hit 1,000 yards for New England last year. But his overall play has slipped from where it used to be, and everyone around the league seems to know it.
Diggs recently posted a video to his YouTube channel that read like part pitch to NFL teams, part therapy session. He talked about the year he’d had – not an easy one – while the footage cut between workout clips, including him running routes barefoot in sand. At one point, the video shows him holding the AFC championship trophy. That was less than six months ago.
“I’m thankful of where I’m at, but here I am picking up the pieces,” Diggs said. “I’ll be fine. I know I’ll be fine.”
Diggs isn’t out there by himself, either. With OTAs (organized team activities) done and training camp just weeks out, plenty of names once considered stars are still hunting for a team. Tyreek Hill. Deebo Samuel. Marshon Lattimore at cornerback. Haason Reddick and Joey Bosa off the edge. All unsigned, all waiting.
That’s the NFL, though.
Some of these guys will quietly fade out of the league and nobody will make a big deal of it. It happens every year. The league doesn’t wait around for sentiment.
Stefon Diggs: “I can compete with anybody”
The real headline from Diggs’ video wasn’t the workout footage – it was him saying he’s better than any team’s No. 2 receiver, period.
“Name your No. 2 receiver right now, and tell me how much he makes,” Diggs said. “And my last question is, ‘Is he better than me?’”
Diggs also touched on what it meant to be a leader on a Patriots team that made it all the way to the AFC title. Think about that for a second: less than a year removed from being the top receiver on a 14-3 squad, and now he’s sitting by the phone waiting for an offer.
“My opinion, I can compete with anybody,” he said, talking about receivers across the league.
Diggs went in the fifth round to the Minnesota Vikings back in 2015, and honestly, that’s about the last time anyone slept on him like this. Since then, he’s been one of the more reliable receivers in football for over a decade. In 2020, you could argue he was the best receiver in the NFL outright – he led the league in catches and yards that year and earned first-team All-Pro honors.
But that peak is getting further away in the rearview mirror.
Tyreek Hill also looking for a team
Back in 2022, Hill and Diggs were both top-five in the league in receiving yards. Two of the most recognizable names at the position. Feels like a lifetime ago now.
Hill’s in the same boat as Diggs – unsigned, with his own off-field issues hanging over the situation. He turned 32 in March, which isn’t exactly young for a receiver, and he’s also coming back from a serious knee injury that wiped out his 2025 season. Add it all up, and it’s no surprise camp is approaching with his name still unclaimed. Like Diggs, Hill’s been posting workout videos on social media, trying to convince someone – anyone – that he’s healthy and ready to go.
That said, Bleacher Report’s James Palmer called it “wishful thinking” back in late June that Hill even plays this season at all. And that’s the wild part – Hill is only two years removed from leading the entire NFL in receiving yards (1,799) and earning first-team All-Pro honors. He’s done that five times in his career. Now? His football future is genuinely uncertain.
For most players in this league, your spot isn’t guaranteed for long. Diggs, Hill, and the rest of this unsigned group could still land somewhere before Week 1 – but if they do, it’ll likely be on short, cheap deals nowhere close to what they used to command.
That’s just how the NFL works. Careers run shorter here than in any other major sport, and turnover happens fast. Every offseason, a batch of familiar names find that out the hard way.
