3)
Stefon Diggs was another topic of discussion on Thursday, with a comment he made on
a recent interview with Dianna Russini standing out.
During the interview, when asked if he was overdoing it as he continues working his way back from his knee injury, Diggs told Russini that he’s been ‘pushing the needle’ and he wasn’t 100% sure about his status for week one.
“I feel great. I’m pushing the needle always. I’m always on doing more than less,” said Diggs. “We’ll see about week one. I don’t know how I feel about it. We’ll see. Coaches aren’t too excited. I’m not too excited. I’m just trying to take it day by day. So we’ll see, man. It looks like we just don’t know where it’s going to go.”
Vrabel was asked about those comments by Perry, and the head coach fired back a response where he clearly wasn’t thrilled about the question.
“Did you really believe that, Phil [Perry]?” said Vrabel. “I mean, you’re a smart guy. I don’t know where you went to school. It wasn’t Ohio State. But do you really believe that? Do you really believe that, Phil? Or are you just trying to bait me into something?”
Perry said he wasn’t baiting him and that those were just Diggs’ comments, and then followed that up with asking him if there was any doubts in his mind whether he believed the wideout would be out there to begin the 2025 season.
“I don’t know the context in which he said it, but you’d have to help me,” said Vrabel. “I mean, he’s been out here almost every day. I’m excited of where he’s at, and we’ll see when week one comes. But he’s going to practice today. Hopefully, he helps us in the red zone, but we can’t predict the future about week one. I just know he’s going to be out there today. He works hard, and he cares, which are two important things.”
4) Another topic of discussion was a comment from wide receivers coach
Todd Downing earlier in the week, which hinted that Diggs is still figuring things out and that he’s clearly still learning the system.
But one part of what Downing said had to do with Diggs possibly not being in the right place, which was something that ended up being discussed on Thursday.
“I think where he’s at in his process right now is where we want him to be,” said Downing back on Monday. “He’s working hard when he’s out there with his reps, and you see him making some plays. The big thing with him is understanding that we can’t confuse results with the process. If there’s a day that he doesn’t have a whole bunch of production, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do his job and get open. The process for him is going to have to be learning this system and learning exactly what the quarterback and what Josh [McDaniels] are looking for. Making sure that he’s in the right spot at the right time. As he continues to refine that, I think he’ll stay on the trajectory he expected.”
Vrabel was asked about Downing’s comment, albeit the snippet that was quoted to Vrabel in the question was, “The big thing with him is understanding that we can’t confuse results with the process. So if there’s a day he doesn’t have a whole bunch of production, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do his job and get open.”
Vrabel questioned the context of the comment and then went on to say that just because a player isn’t seeing the ball doesn’t mean they’re not doing their job.
“Again, there’s days where the ball doesn’t find you,” said Vrabel. “There’s one football, there’s five eligible receivers. The quarterback decides where he wants to go with the ball. No different than
Kyle Williams. Kyle Williams is working extremely hard. The ball hasn’t really found him. He’s been open. There’s been separation. I’m not sure which day Todd said that, but the other day in the red zone, I thought that Stefon factored and looked good and keep getting better. So I don’t think that that’s going to be always the case, right?”
“As far as there’s a… Terrell [Williams] mentioned this.
Terrell Williams said this one time when ‘You can make the play without making a tackle.’ And that was something that you have to teach defensive linemen is when they start trying to make a bunch of tackles, maybe they start hurting some of the people behind them and the fits and everything else because they’re trying to make a tackle, where there’s ways to do their job and really contribute to the defense without ever getting a stat.”
“And those plays will come. Just make the ones that you’re supposed to make. And I really equate that to really every position. But you asked about receiver, and then again, everybody wants to catch the ball and everybody wants to score touchdowns. And those will come, and that’ll happen. And maybe on that particular day, in which Todd said that there wasn’t a ton of production from that practice day. I’m not really sure when he said that, but there’s other ways to be successful and do your job and help us win. That’s the most important thing.”
