Stefon Diggs addressed report of him being a ‘pain in the posterior’ for Patriots
"Obviously, I don't want to come across as that ... I apologize and I'm not up here to ego trip."
FOXBOROUGH — On Wednesday afternoon, Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs addressed some remarks that were made about him during an episode of NBC Sports Boston’s “Quick Slants” last month.
“I was referred to as a pain in the ass, pain in the posterior, but I’m going to say exactly what it really is. Obviously I don’t want to come across as that and I’ll say this: I want to be very clear that I’m an adult. I apologize and I’m not up here to ego trip.
“I’m not up here to rub anybody the wrong way or say anything for clickbait. If I rubbed anybody the wrong way, I really want to apologize. Moving forward, obviously we have a media-to-player relationship [that I want to make] as professional as I can be.”
Diggs said he felt his words during previous interviews were taken out of context during the “Quick Slants” episode.
He mentioned both of the show’s co-hosts, Tom Curran and Phil Perry, by name. Both men, who were in attendance at the press conference, apologized to Diggs.
Curran said he appreciated Diggs’s words and the way he handled the situation. Perry said he was wrong to have phrased things the way that he did.
The comment that triggered Diggs’s response came from Perry, who said that there were signs that the receiver’s behavior was making him come across as a bit of a nuisance.
He used a press conference answer from Mike Vrabel about Diggs’s injury status as an example. Diggs had seemed to cast some doubt on his Week 1 availability during an appearance on the “Up & Adams” show, despite the fact that he was a regular participant in practices.
When Perry asked about Diggs’s comments, Vrabel asked Perry if he really believed what Diggs said.
“It’s interesting, though Tom,” Perry said. “There are little signs that he’s just becoming a bit of a pain in the posterior … for Mike Vrabel to sort of have to be his public relations assistant, and tell us what he really meant in his commentary to a member of the national media — I don’t know if that irks Mike Vrabel or he’s just looking for somebody to go back and forth with.”
Diggs said he was trying to avoid revealing more information than he needed to about his injury status during the interview with Adams. The 31-year-old receiver is coming off of surgery to repair a torn ACL, and advance knowledge of his availability could impact the way opponents gameplan.
Earlier this week, Vrabel said that Diggs is expected to be ready to go for Week 1. When asked if there will be limitations to his availability, Diggs said:
“Hell no! I don’t know. I don’t make the rules. We’ll see how it goes, but I really hope not.”
Diggs said he wants to move forward and continue to build productive relationships with the media.
“I don’t want to get up here and not answer questions, or make anybody feel uncomfortable,” Diggs said. “Obviously, in the world we live in, if somebody calls you an a–hole then you start acting like one. No, you don’t. That’s not me. So, I want to apologize if I ever came across that way to anybody, moving forward I want to get things off on the right foot. We’re going to spend a lot of time together.”
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