New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs tried to set the record straight with the media in a rare press conference ahead of Week 1.
After keeping quiet for most of the summer, New England Patriots star wide receiver Stefon Diggs had plenty to say right before the season began.
Diggs, who hasn’t spoken with the local media much at all during training camp and the preseason, broke his silence on Sept. 3 ahead of Week 1, and he started the rare media session by apologizing to reporters while trying to clear up some misconceptions.
“Obviously, I haven’t talked much in camp,” Diggs acknowledged to reporters. ” … I appreciate ya’ll, appreciate your patience. I just try to take this time to be focused, get my mind right, get my body right …. so I just needed that time. I appreciate ya’ll having patience with me.”
Diggs then singled out a pair of local reporters, NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry, for how they interpreted Diggs’ interview with The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. On an episode of their podcast, Perry wondered if Diggs was becoming a “pain in the posterior” early in his Patriots tenure.
“My words, I had some conversations, some interviews throughout camp, and some of my words were misconstrued,” Diggs insisted. “Me talking to another individual were kind of regurgitated another way or taken out of context. I think I was referred to a pain in the ass … obviously I don’t want to come across as that.”
Diggs added: “I’ll say this, I want to be very clear: I’m an adult. I’ll apologize, I’m not up here to ego trip, I’m not up here to rub anyone the wrong way or say anything for click bait. IF I rubbed anyone the wrong way, I want to apologize. Moving forward, obviously we have a media-to-player relationship (and) I’ll be professional as I can be, make myself available each and every week. I don’t want this thing to be abrasive. It can be as seamless as possible. … I don’t want to get up here and not answer questions and make anyone feel uncomfortable.”
