Stefon Diggs is joining the Washington Commanders, providing a major boost at wide receiver and giving quarterback Jayden Daniels a proven playmaker who demonstrated last season that he remains highly productive more than a decade into his NFL career.
Washington reached an agreement with Diggs on a contract for the upcoming season, according to a person familiar with the deal. The individual spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity because the signing had not yet been officially announced.
A native of nearby Gaithersburg, Maryland, Diggs enters his 12th NFL season with Washington and is reportedly eligible to earn up to $12 million. Last year with New England, he recorded 99 receptions for 1,123 yards and five touchdowns across 21 games, including the Patriots’ postseason journey to the Super Bowl.
New England released Diggs in March, and the 32-year-old remained unsigned during free agency while facing strangulation and other criminal charges related to a dispute with his former private chef. He was acquitted in May, and in June the NFL announced that, following its review, there was insufficient evidence to impose discipline under the league’s personal conduct policy.
The Commanders entered the offseason needing help at wide receiver and are counting on Diggs to fill that gap. Relying solely on Treylon Burks and Luke McCaffrey would have placed Daniels under significant pressure while likely allowing defenses to focus heavily on No. 1 receiver Terry McLaurin with frequent double coverage.
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Bringing in Diggs may also eliminate the possibility of pursuing Brandon Aiyuk, a close friend of Daniels who remains under contract with San Francisco. In June, Aiyuk said on social media that he would immediately join Washington if the 49ers decided to release him.
Aiyuk remains on the reserve/left squad list with San Francisco, while Diggs now joins an NFC East division loaded with talented receivers, including CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens in Dallas, DeVonta Smith in Philadelphia, and Malik Nabers with the New York Giants.
Earlier in his career, Diggs played for Minnesota, Buffalo, and Houston. His résumé includes being named an All-Pro in 2020, when he led the league with 127 receptions and 1,535 receiving yards. Since making his NFL debut in 2015 after being selected by the Vikings in the fifth round of that year’s draft, Diggs has totaled 1,025 catches for 12,523 yards and 79 touchdowns across regular-season and playoff games.
One of the defining moments of his career was the famous “Minneapolis Miracle” during the divisional round in January 2018. With only 10 seconds remaining, Diggs made a leaping catch, avoided a defender, and raced 61 yards for the game-winning touchdown in Minnesota’s 29-24 victory over New Orleans.
Away from the field, his career has also featured several controversies, including more than $200,000 in fines from the Vikings during his final season with the team in 2019 for missing practices without excuse. Minnesota traded him to Buffalo in March 2020.
Diggs led the Bills in receiving during each of his four seasons with the team, although his time there also included emotional sideline incidents and cryptic social media posts before he was traded to Houston in April 2024. A torn ACL brought his stint with the Texans to an early end, and missing a voluntary offseason workout created an uneven start to his time with the Patriots before he ultimately became a dependable target for quarterback Drake Maye.
Released in part because he was due $20.6 million, Diggs now teams up with Daniels, who was selected one pick ahead of Maye when the two quarterbacks were chosen second and third overall, respectively, in the 2024 NFL Draft.
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