- 12 hours ago
The Washington Commanders just got an absolute dog by signing Stefon Diggs! Kevin Sheehan gives his reaction to the Commanders signing Stefon Diggs to the roster and giving the offense a much needed boost in the Wide Receiver room for the 2026 NFL season.
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00:00The reports broke yesterday afternoon.
00:03Diggs to D.C., one year, $12 million.
00:08Just for everybody's sake, in case you haven't been following this story,
00:13Stephon Diggs is now 32 years old.
00:16Most of you know he was drafted out of Maryland back in 2015 in the fifth round.
00:22No doubt he was one of those guys that could have gone a lot higher,
00:27but there were injury concerns.
00:28He was injured here and there at Maryland.
00:31There were other concerns as well, but at Maryland,
00:35and I watched every single play of every single game of his career at Maryland,
00:40he was explosive.
00:43He was dynamic as a receiver.
00:46By the way, they'd get him the ball in any way possible.
00:50And then as a returner, especially as a kickoff returner, I mean, he was lethal.
00:55He played for the legendary Bob Malloy, who's going to join us in about 30 minutes at Good Counsel.
01:02A lot of, you know, long-time DMV high school football people will say that Steph Diggs is the greatest
01:10high school football player
01:11to ever come out of this area in terms of playing high school in this area.
01:17There is a long list of great high school basketball players, and there's a long list of great high school
01:23football players, too.
01:26But Elgin Baylor, by the way, on the basketball side, as Coach Thompson used to say,
01:32it's Elgin Baylor one and count five spaces until you get to whomever is number two.
01:38But many people believe Steph is the greatest high school football player ever out of this area.
01:43And now he's going to be back home where he played high school and college football
01:47and for the first time playing in the NFL in Washington.
01:51Eleven years in the NFL, five in Minnesota, four in Buffalo, one in Houston, which was abbreviated.
01:58He only played eight games before tearing his ACL.
02:01And then last year in New England.
02:04You know, I went and looked this up because, you know, whenever you start talking about a guy into double
02:08-digit years of his career
02:11and he's been highly productive, you wonder about, you know, things like, you know, Hall of Fame consideration.
02:17He's not a Hall of Famer, okay? Not yet anyway.
02:20But he does have 942 career catches.
02:24That is 24th on the all-time list.
02:27He should, with one decent season, bust into the top 20 of all-time receptions.
02:34And another two to three years of reasonable productivity from Stephon Diggs.
02:40It doesn't have to be high-level productivity.
02:43He'll be near the top 10 of all-time catches in the history of the game.
02:49He's got seven 1,000-plus-yard seasons during his 11-year career.
02:55He's got five 100-plus-catch seasons.
02:58He's been to four Pro Bowls.
03:00He was an AP All-Pro first-teamer in 2020, his first year in Buffalo.
03:07And then he was a second-team Associated Press All-Pro selection in 2022.
03:15Look, he is a different receiver now than he was earlier in his career.
03:21He's not the same vertical threat that he once was.
03:26But look, during the course of his career, he has been one of the best all-around receivers in the
03:34game.
03:34And last year, you know, he produced solid numbers coming off an injury season,
03:40the most severe injury he's ever had in his career,
03:43the most games he's ever missed in his career in Houston.
03:45And he bounced back at a 50% snap percentage with 85 catches and 1,013 yards leading the AFC
03:56champion Patriots
03:57in both receptions and receiving yardage.
04:02Less of a deep threat than he had been during the earlier portion or more recent portion of his career.
04:07But, man, this dude, as we've talked about over the last, you know, month for sure,
04:12as it became less likely that Brandon Ayuk was going to come here,
04:17his route running's always been exceptional.
04:20It was again last year.
04:21His catching the football is at a very, very high level.
04:26He catches everything.
04:28He's got great feel.
04:30He's got that great athletic feel, spatial, vision, the whole thing,
04:36which really works well for him against zone coverage.
04:39And still, with great experience, super quick feet, super exceptional route running,
04:46he still beats man-to-man, you know, more so on third and four, third and three,
04:51rather than first and ten off a play action deep.
04:55I've said this about him ever since we started talking about Stefan Diggs as a possibility here.
05:00My favorite part of Stefan Diggs is that he is an absolute competitive badass.
05:08He's been that.
05:09You talk to any of the people that coached him, you know, throughout, that's what he is.
05:14He is fiercely competitive.
05:16He is fearless as a football player, over the middle, never, never flinches, never has.
05:24Tough, competitive, fearless, and just flat out helps teams win.
05:30Elevates quarterbacks.
05:31He's done that since the beginning.
05:33I mean, he elevated Case Keenum, for crying out loud.
05:37Josh Allen's numbers got better when he got to Buffalo.
05:42And Drake May's numbers were elevated from year one with Stefan Diggs on the field.
05:48His personality, we've followed the Stefan Diggs story.
05:51He's been described as many things.
05:53Diva, difficult, you know, short dose, you know, great, you know, for a year or so,
06:00and then perhaps wears out as welcome.
06:02But no one's ever questioned Stefan Diggs on game day.
06:05No one has.
06:07Um, yeah, I, I, I believe that this came about for two reasons.
06:17One is that the Brandon Iyuk plan, which I do think was a legitimate plan for this team,
06:24you know, going back to, uh, prior, you know, prior to the video, uh, barrage on social media,
06:31which was incredibly self-defeating, self-sabotaging, not to mention all the other things that were
06:37going on without any action to help himself.
06:40And he essentially ruled himself out from, uh, this particular place and probably any place
06:46for 2026.
06:48I would not rule out Brandon Iyuk for 2027.
06:51There are always redemption stories, especially in second chance, third chance stories, especially
06:57for players with talent.
06:58But I think that when that became, you know, essentially ruled out, Diggs became more of
07:06a possibility.
07:06And I think for Diggs, the truth is that if Iyuk was a possibility here, along with Terry
07:14McCorn, he may have looked somewhere else where he would be the obvious number two or a 1A.
07:19Also remember that Stefan Diggs wasn't really a possibility until his trial for a felony count
07:26of strangulation and a misdemeanor count of assault and battery until that trial was over,
07:32where he was found not guilty on all counts.
07:35You know, he's had some baggage during his career and that was the biggest baggage that
07:41he was toting around, but he was cleared of all charges.
07:44But even remember after he was cleared in May, there was still a question of whether or not
07:49the league would do anything.
07:51Would they, would they somehow be able to suspend him for conduct detrimental?
07:57Well, they decided, decided and announced a few weeks ago that he was not going to be
08:02punished in part because he was found not guilty by a jury.
08:08So that's kind of how it came together.
08:11Kymel shed some more light on that as well.
08:13Look, for me, I think there are a couple of things to focus in on.
08:17Number one, he wants to be here.
08:19It's home.
08:20The team's got a chance to be good because it's got a very good quarterback.
08:24It's upgraded its defense and there is a significant need for him.
08:29The one-year deal for the team is great.
08:31I would imagine, and you'll hear me ask Kymel about this, I would imagine that maybe this
08:37could have been done a little while ago if the team had just said, we'll give you two years,
08:41but they held tight, I'm assuming.
08:45I'm sure Stephon wanted more years and more money.
08:48The $12 million was a little bit lower than the SpotTrack estimated salary of $13.7 million for one year.
08:57God, the team needs this.
08:59It needs this so badly.
09:02You know, they've been telling us how much they like their wide receiver room, and I'm
09:07not saying that they wouldn't have felt somewhat comfortable going into the regular season with
09:12it, but they didn't feel totally comfortable with anything, right?
09:15They chased down Alec Pierce in free agency.
09:18They went after Romeo Dobbs in free agency.
09:22Brandon Ayuk was probably a better than 50-50 bet until about seven or eight weeks ago.
09:28And it wouldn't surprise me if they were poking around other areas as well.
09:36But Diggs is the guy, and with him, they may not have gotten exactly what they wanted,
09:44a true deep vertical guy to space the field out a little bit for Terry and for Chigakonkwo,
09:51et cetera, but in Diggs, what they got is they got a true number two, almost a 1A.
09:58By the way, for Terry, he's never played with a 1A or a 2 before, never.
10:04This is going to be truly helpful for him, obviously helpful for the quarterback.
10:08I've mentioned before about Diggs and his career, except for the season in Houston where
10:13he played with Nico Collins.
10:15He's always been the number one.
10:17And the only number two he's ever had that was legitimately a number two was Adam Thielen
10:23in Minnesota.
10:25But Diggs just gives this offense and Jaden a reliable route runner, a reliable move-the-chains
10:34receiver, and he's done it on big stages.
10:38You know, Traylon Burks, all due respect, hasn't done it, you know, hasn't had the big seasons,
10:43hasn't been relied upon.
10:44You know, they don't have that even in Chigakonkwo, who's more of a receiver maybe than he is even
10:50a tight end.
10:52But in Diggs, they've got somebody to walk in to the link on September 13th for the Fox
10:59game of the week with Burkhart and Brady on the call in the season opener.
11:04And they've got somebody to line up with Terry McLaurin and Jaden Daniels and even a guy like
11:09Rashad White.
11:10They've all been there, done that.
11:13Big exhale, I would imagine, from the team to know that weeks one and two at Philly, at
11:19Dallas, late afternoon Sunday, big, high-profile games, that they've got two receivers that have
11:25done it before instead of one.
11:29Diggs is going to make things, I think, much easier for Blau.
11:34So, you'll have, I think, Terry.
11:37Look, I would guess that at the end of the year, when we look to see how many times Diggs
11:42lined up in the slot versus Terry, it's Diggs.
11:45It's Diggs.
11:46This moves Terry back to pure X more than anything else.
11:51But Terry's, we've seen Terry move around.
11:53And Blau's going to move everybody around.
11:56Diggs, by the way, coming off that ACL injury, had a 50% snap count last year in New England,
12:02in part because, you know, he started to play not even, you know, nine months removed from
12:08ACL surgery, which he had in late October when he was with the Texans.
12:13This may be the year in which he feels totally comfortable and totally ready.
12:17Maybe that's why he shouted out a few weeks ago, there isn't a better number two in the
12:22league than me.
12:24And I would say he'd still be a number one on a lot of teams based on just last year's
12:29results.
12:30Now, who's out because of him?
12:33Good question.
12:34You'll hear Keim answer that coming up shortly.
12:37I had one just, I'm sure, crazy thought about their wide receiver room.
12:44And the thought is this.
12:46What team in the league right now needs receivers more than any team now that Washington signed
12:52Diggs?
12:53Max, the San Francisco 49ers, correct?
12:59With all those injuries?
13:01It's the substation's taking over, Kevin.
13:04So how about Luke McCaffrey to San Francisco?
13:10Okay.
13:10For, you know, let's call it an early day three pick, a fourth or a fifth rounder.
13:16He was picked in the third round, remember?
13:18But at the very end of the third round, the final pick of the third round.
13:23How about you deal with San Francisco?
13:25They've been dealing with San Francisco, it seems like, for years.
13:28Trent Williams, Brian Robinson Jr.
13:30Luke McCaffrey.
13:31I don't think, I don't know that he'd be the odd man out if they didn't trade him.
13:37But how about he, you know, joins his brother, Christian, in San Francisco, Washington gets
13:42something back.
13:43As far as the kickoff return thing, Jeremy McNichols can do it.
13:48Krosky Merrick can do it.
13:49Rashad White can do it.
13:50I don't know that McNichols is even on the roster anymore.
13:52Well, that's fair.
13:53But McNichols has been a kickoff returner.
13:56Remember, that position, McCaffrey was great at it last year.
13:59So has Debo.
14:00So give some credit to Larry Izzo, the special teams guy, for, you know, creating some really
14:05good returns, both in the punt and in the kickoff area.
14:08I don't know that Jalen Lane's a kickoff returner.
14:11He could be.
14:12But kickoff returners are more possession receivers and running backs now around the league because
14:17it's much closer to a line of scrimmage play than it used to be with the new rule.
14:22So anyway, just a thought.
14:25Look, I love it.
14:26He's an alpha, man.
14:28He is a straight badass alpha on game day, you know, and he is going to be, in terms of
14:36the debuts of new players on this team, at the top of the list in terms of anticipated
14:41debuts.
14:41I would say Sonny Stiles is a close, close second.
14:45I also just think that Adam Peters has done a really nice job in this offseason.
14:50We'll see how it plays out.
14:52We'll see how all these pieces mix together.
14:55But I think the bottom line is they had a major problem on defense.
15:00The team was the worst defensive team in the league over the final 10 weeks of the regular
15:04season.
15:05In my estimation, it's the worst defensive team I've ever seen in Washington.
15:10And they went out and added, you know, if you add Fabian Moreau to the mix, they've added
15:1410 players, 10 to the defensive side of the ball that they're actually expecting some contribution
15:20from.
15:21And in the case of six or seven of them, major contribution, starting level contribution.
15:27And then offensively, they went out and got a big time pass catching tight end who may be
15:32ascending.
15:32They got a veteran back to go with their very young back.
15:36They tried at receiver.
15:38They failed on the big swings.
15:40They added a couple of pieces in Deami, Van Jefferson, et cetera.
15:44But adding digs makes this offseason, from my standpoint, a solid B plus to A level for
15:52Adam Peters.
15:53A number two receiver and a number one tight end, offensively added to the mix, along with
15:59all of the new defensive players.
16:02Can't wait.
16:03Three Terps, three new Terps, Chig, Nick Cross, and now Steph Diggs.
16:09And I'll tell you what, man, Diggs, this is a guy, he may drive us crazy.
16:16There are going to be two or three plays this year.
16:19We're going to be scratching our heads, throwing our arms up in the air, saying, why did you
16:23do that?
16:24Why did you get flagged 15 yards for doing that?
16:28Why did you blow up on the sideline?
16:31But there's also going to be a dozen plays in which we're like, good God, that was a difficult,
16:36tough, sticks-moving catch on third and five.
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