According to Ian Rapoport, there’s a possibility that Patriots WR Stefon Diggs lands on the commissioner’s exempt list as the NFL sorts through the serious charges against him, including felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault.
Rapoport says the charges, violent in nature as they are, are serious enough for the NFL to consider sidelining Diggs until there’s a resolution, but the league is still in the process of gathering information.
He notes there are parallels to Patriots S Jabrill Peppers, who was arrested on several charges last October and placed on the exempt list until late November, shortly after he had a court appearance.
The next court appearance in the case against Diggs is January 23, a couple days before the AFC Championship.
The league uses the exempt list in cases where there are criminal cases against players serious enough to where it doesn’t want them playing but needs time for the process to play out before it can conduct its own investigation and impose any relevant discipline.
According to MassLive’s Chris Mason and Matt Daniels, the assault charges reported against Diggs have been filed by a personal chef who says Diggs hit and choked her over a financial dispute.
Diggs, 32, is a former fifth-round pick of the Vikings back in 2015. He was in the final year of his rookie contract when he agreed to a five-year extension worth $72 million with the Vikings in 2018
The Vikings traded Diggs to the Bills in 2020 for a package of draft picks, including a first-round selection.
Diggs was set to make base salaries of $11.775 million and $11.85 million over the final two years of his deal in 2022 and 2023 when Buffalo signed him to a four-year, $104 million extension.
He was due base salaries of $18.5 million and $18 million over the next two seasons when the Bills traded him to the Texans for a 2025 second-round pick. Houston reworked his contract to give him a raise and make him an unrestricted free agent in 2025.
Diggs played out that contract and signed a three-year deal with the Patriots this offseason.
In 2025, Diggs has appeared in 16 games for the Patriots and recorded 82 catches on 99 targets for 970 yards and four touchdowns.
We’ll have more on Diggs as the news is available.
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