Besides looking to find their next anchors on the offensive line this offseason, the New England Patriots were on a mission to give Drake Maye his first legitimate WR1 of his NFL career, a player that has evaded the team since Julian Edelman retired four years ago.
The Mike Vrabel regime accomplished that by signing Stefon Diggs later than expected, and it wasn't initially met with much praise from analysts or fans, given that he was coming off an ACL injury that generally keeps players sidelined for close to a year. However, based on how things have looked so far this year, the fans and the team are extremely grateful he's on the team, and the other more highly touted options are not.
Among the most notable of names that the Patriots were connected to in free agency, whether to sign outright or trade for, were Brandon Aiyuk, Cooper Kupp, and Calvin Ridley.
While there was some juice to the argument that any of those three options might have been better to sign than Diggs last year, that argument is no longer valid, and the early notion that the Vrabel regime whiffed by missing out on all three is now laughable.
It looks like a blessing in disguise for the Patriots to have whiffed on signing some big-name receivers
Although there were plenty of doubts surrounding Diggs' fit with the Patriots' offense, he has proven to be the very powerhouse they desperately needed and is on pace for another 1,000+ receiving yard season, the first for the team since Edelman.
That could have been the case with a player like Aiyuk, whose 2024 season also ended prematurely due to an ACL injury. But he is yet to return this year and has already missed 21 games since he signed that hefty extension with the 49ers, which came after he dismissed a trade to New England.
Kupp could have been in that same position, as well, but he chose to stick to the NFC West when leaving the Rams by signing with the Seahawks, only to have one of his worst statistical seasons of his career. That is in large part due to an injury he sustained this year, but it's certainly not the kind of production the Patriots would have wanted from him had he signed a deal with them instead.
And then there's Ridley, who declined signing with the Patriots last year, despite being offered more money than what the Titans were willing to pay him. He's now sidelined for the rest of the season with a broken leg suffered this past week, making it even better luck that the Patriots were unsuccessful in signing him.
They have really lucked out with how well Diggs has played so far, and it's looking like a massive mistake for the rest of the NFL to have overlooked him due to his age and the injury. They have to be regretting allowing the Patriots to get him in the door, as he is becoming a vital part of their offensive identity.