If you believe the initial reports — and you never should — the Patriots signed receiver Stefon Diggs to a three-year, $69 million contract with $26 million guaranteed. The truth is far more complicated, especially since Diggs suffered a torn ACL during the 2024 regular season.
We’ve obtained and reviewed the entire contract. Until he passes a full physical (including as to the injured knee), he’s entitled to nothing. And that wrinkle gives rise to another question that recently became very relevant. If the Patriots decide to cut Diggs, do they owe him anything?
With Scott Zolak, who works for the Patriots Radio Network, recently saying that parting ways with Diggs is on the table, it’s fair and appropriate to explore whether and to what extent he’d be entitled to a multi-million-dollar parting gift.
While the contract doesn’t contain a clear answer, there are several provisions that could apply.
First, paragraph 26 of the contract sets forth the signing bonus. Under paragraph 26(a), Diggs gets $12 million, with $4 million paid within two weeks of execution, $4 million due on October 31, 2025, and $4 million due on March 31, 2026.
While this implies that he has received $4 million, paragraph 26(b) says this: “Player’s entitlement to receive the amount set forth in Paragraph (a) immediately above is expressly conditioned upon Player’s passing of a physical examination by Club, as determined exclusively by Club’s physician, confirming his ability to practice and play in accordance with the standards and requirements of his position, as to which Club will rely upon, among other things, Player’s full and complete disclosure of all facts and circumstances material to his health, well-being and performance.”
Basically, the Patriots owe Diggs nothing until he passes a full physical clearing him to practice and play. And the team’s doctor has exclusive discretion to determine whether Diggs passes. So if the doctor never believes Diggs is ready to play, the Patriots — in theory — owe him nothing.
That doesn’t mean the Patriots can tear up the contract for any reason before Diggs passes his physical. It nevertheless provides an escape hatch, if the doctor who is on the team’s payroll (and who presumably hopes to remain there) never believes the knee has fully healed.
Second, paragraph 27(e) focuses on the “Pre-Existing Condition” in Diggs’s knee. It wipes out the $10.6 million in guarantees beyond the $12 million signing bonus “[i]n the event the Contract is terminated due to the Pre-Existing Condition or any injury or medical condition that, in the sole opinion of Club’s Physician, which shall be final and binding, is in any way related to the Pre-Existing Condition, then notwithstanding anything in this Agreement, the Guarantees set forth in this Section 27 shall be null and void.”
That provision evaporates once Diggs passes the physical mentioned in paragraph 26(b). Which makes that physical even more important. And which gives the Patriots a window for pulling the plug, if they so choose.
The contract also includes standard default language for the $10.6 million in non-signing bonus guarantees. Given that the chance of a suspension for the recent pink powder boat video is low, it will be difficult to prove that Diggs has committed a default.
There’s also a provision at the tail end of the contract (paragraph 36) in which Diggs promises he “will not participate, and is not engaged and will not engage, in any conduct or activity that is illegal, unlawful or immoral.” The boat video, which shows Diggs distributing a pink powder, could give the Patriots an opening for seizing on that language — if the powder was an illegal street drug.
Or course, the Patriots would have to prove it. Which may not be easy to do.
It would be far easier, frankly, to cut him with a failed physical designation, withhold any money he has yet to receive, and brace for a grievance like the one former Patriots receiver Antonio Brown filed after the team refused to pay his $9 million signing bonus following his failed shot of espresso with the Pats.
Eventually, the Patriots settled the grievance for $5 million. Which was still $4 million less than they owed Brown on paper.
In this case, the language of the contract gives the team (specifically, its physician) the ability to put the kibosh on the entire contract by determining that Diggs can’t pass a physical, due to the ACL tear.
Here’s the point. It’s possible the Patriots have only paid Diggs $4 million, if that much. If Diggs has not yet passed the full and final physical that clears him to practice and play in 2025 (and the absence of news that he has passed a full and final physical strongly suggests he has not), there’s an opening to turn that three-year, $69 million contract into nothing at all.
