The Patriots did it. They cut Stefon Diggs. And honestly? It was the right call, even if it tastes like defeat in your mouth when you say it out loud.
Let's be real about what just happened: that contract was a disaster. We knew it when he signed it. A star receiver on an aging Patriots team with a front office still figuring out its identity post-Brady—the math never worked. Keeping Diggs tied up $18 million in dead cap would've been malpractice. The organization needed breathing room. They took it. The gamble paid off in the sense that we're not completely hamstrung moving forward. That's not nothing.
But here's where I get nervous, and here's where the organization needs to deliver: Plan B has to actually exist. This can't be another "we'll figure it out in free agency" situation where we end up with a bunch of mid-tier guys and hope one breaks out. We've been down that road. It doesn't work anymore in this league.
The receiver room is now skeletal. You've got some potential—young guys with upside, maybe a solid slot option or two—but you don't have a WR1. That's a problem for any offensive system. Whether the new regime wants to run 11 personnel or go heavy with two-tight-end looks, you still need one legitimate top-tier target. The question is: how do they get one?
Free agency? Draft priority? A trade? The front office has maybe three weeks to sketch this out before the draft, and every day that passes without clarity is a day I'm holding my breath. We can't afford another year of "we're building something" in the receiver room. The quarterback—whoever's slinging it—deserves better. Our defense is solid enough to compete. But an anemic passing attack will sink us just like it has the last few seasons.
Diggs leaving hurts. It really does. He was a pro, a guy who showed up even when the team around him was messy. But this move signals something: the Patriots are being realistic about where we are. That's mature. Now they have to be aggressive about where we're going.
Based on reporting from MassLive Patriots.