Stefon Diggs being Medically Cleared is Good News for Drake Maye

Beasley Digital

On Tuesday's edition of Felger and Mazz, the guys discussed the positive implications of Stefon Diggs being cleared from the PUP list. They specifically broke down why it is good news for quarterback Drake Maye.

Transcript

00:00i think it's a pretty big turn uh in all sorts of respects uh starting with tone from the head

00:05coach remember rabel's tone yeah sure when he was asked about digs in the mini camps you know he had

00:11several opportunities in the mini camps to say he's working hard he's doing everything that we're

00:14asked asking him to do and it was really sort of just the opposite he was asked about steph digs

00:19and how much he's working in his engagement and rabel would answer by saying we expect and well

00:23all the players here all the time you know it's so it's kind of clear that they weren't all that

00:28happy with steph digs during the mini camp and i'm not even getting to the pink bag of drugs

00:32and all of that i'm just talking about he wasn't there like they wanted him to be there never mind

00:37he's effing off and doing lord knows what uh you know in his free time so it felt like it was off

00:43to a rocky start well fast forward here to training camp uh the tone of the coach i think is much

00:49different and it belies the fact that digs is on board no pun intended greg bedard writes uh again

00:58the fact that he wasn't on pup so pup physical and able to perform is left for anyone who has an

01:04off season injury and it has some other things as well but if you have an off season surgery you start

01:09on that pup and you can come off it at any time and you have three weeks to practice it before you

01:15can play him there's all sorts of rules but it's really just a placeholder for those guys so it's not

01:21the full injured reserve which sometimes knocks you out for the season but everyone thought he'd start

01:25on pup he did not and bedard writes that he wasn't sure if that was some sort of procedural thing

01:31like the patriots were waiting to decide on his status until he arrived and took his physical

01:35but says greg that's not the case digs has been cleared has passed his physical and will not be put

01:41on the pup i would not expect him to have a heavy practice workload for a while as he'll be on a ramp up

01:47plan with week one being the hope the physical he says is no small thing when it comes to his

01:52contract remember all the chatter about possibly cutting digs and not owing him anything that's

01:57over now he's getting his 12 million dollar signing bonus now albeit in three installments because

02:04it's really what maz it's a patriot guarantee thank you you can get a 12 million dollar check to sign

02:11but you really got to wait about nine months in three different installments to get the full they

02:15hand it to you in thirds right and the way you should define that for the for the benefit of the

02:20listener is that a patriot guarantee is never ever ever a full guarantee so i usually don't count the

02:27money till it's in the bank correct so steph's gonna have to wait a little bit to get that full

02:3112 million but you get it in fractions be that has it may this is uh he had to pass the physical to

02:38get that bonus he's passed the physical he's getting the bonus to me this is the most important

02:43thing that's still a landmark yeah to me it is it's a landmark i tell you this like follow the money

02:48or a milestone it starts with the contract it starts with the guarantees that's all the player

02:53cares about so why would the team feel any differently and you hold back the guarantees

02:57until you're sure about them and so it means forget just the physical because remember the physical was

03:04completely dependent on patriots doctors so if the pats were still unsure about steph diggs they could

03:11find a way to fail them they'd be inviting some sort of beef but like if they really were reticent

03:18or reluctant and not believing in steph diggs they'd screw around with them they wouldn't let

03:22them on the field now so you know whatever diggs has done he satisfied them and you can tell it

03:29most notably by the money but also by the tone of the coach and here it is greg writes as far as his

03:37health it's a minor miracle that he's ready to go just nine months after tearing his acl

03:41like i said during minicamp writes greg he looked terrific way better than kendrick born did a year

03:47ago with a similar situation he said that's great news for the patriots and drake may and i will take

03:53it on face value and agree i didn't think diggs would be ready week one i thought it was just a

03:57just sort of a thing that he said to get signed and he said that as a free agent like yeah i'll be ready

04:03to go of course he's trying to get signed he's trying to get a contract well now he's got his contract

04:07he's passed his physical and i i mean if he's not starting on pup he better be ready week one now

04:13it's like i think that's what that's what to expect i mean to your point when vrabel last spoke again it

04:19was he he was upset i say upset unhappy with what the with diggs's level of commitment at the end of

04:26minicamp he then made that comment which was brought up a couple of times today the next five weeks are

04:31really important for every player right saying that for the right the the time between the end of

04:37minicamp and the start of training camp where players can go out and screw off and mess things

04:42up and not commit what sounded today like vrabel was very happy with diggs's five weeks that whatever

04:50diggs did in those five weeks it was enough to pass the physical be on the field for the start of camp

04:56and get his money so he i mean it's it's again that that's a win if you are the patriots

05:02so on the other hand is carlton davis this other uh corner the second corner the off corner to

05:09christian gonzalez that you signed in the off season as greg writes on the other side of the coin is

05:13davis the last time we saw him during minicamp he was on the field and participating so that means he

05:18was healthy now a month later he isn't he's on the nfi non-football injury list okay which

05:25really just means that he was injured away from the facility so it could be non-football injury it

05:31could be he was say just picking a random thing but jet skiing and he twisted an ankle jet skiing

05:39well there was video of him jet skiing at some point oh was there yeah yeah like i said i was

05:44just randomly picking an example interesting how you pull that out obviously yeah so like he could

05:49have been dicking around and or it could be a football injury that he suffered just if you're

05:54training on your own and you whatever pull a hammy tweak a hamstring sprinting on your own that's a

06:00not i think that's nfi so he could be doing that as well as greg writes uh players land on that list

06:06if some sort of ailment could be an injury or an illness happens outside the team facility most are

06:11injuries sustained during personal workouts he says i don't know specifically what davis's situation is

06:17but i'm told that he will be fine players can come off those lists at any time still it's not great

06:23i'm not worried about davis not being on the practice field he's a veteran in a corner

06:27he can get his work in but davis's durability is one of my biggest worries this season and this is

06:32not a great start so that cuts both ways did rabel say something about davis uh coming back soon it was

06:38so i listened to most of rabel today he may have addressed it i'll try and find it for you

06:42but those were the two things the digs thing is good news so any follows on that it's kind of crazy

06:48news in that i just always looked at this as like a pipe dream for pats fans like yeah yeah he'll be

06:52ready week one like okay right i mean because guys with this injury specifically at that position

06:56you typically don't see until october at best and even the most level-headed reporters covering the

07:01team said like everyone pump the brakes like it could happen maybe but don't count on it you know

07:06point towards four weeks october that's when you'll probably see digs but now that he's not on the pop

07:11list like like you said like you've now set the standard you got to be there week one i i also thought

07:17there was a chance the team was going to take it slower because they wanted to make sure he was going to be

07:20okay fully recovered what have you but if they cleared him then clearly they're satisfied too

07:26i actually think it's a good thing for drake may that they're installing a new offense if digs is

07:31going to be out there and and i i know also that uh brable said he's not going to practice every day

07:36which i'm not surprised about or that bedard wrote that but you know what just the fact that he's

07:41available to sort of go through this process with may to me is not insignificant they need every rep they

07:48can get especially with you know a new offense or new offensive coordinator however you want to

07:53term it so to me that's you know it's just a huge step what's your level of optimism heading into the

07:58season heading into camp just start with that i would say uh pretty high but not as high as some

08:04of these nitwits out there who are like you know predicting that they're going to win a playoff game or

08:08be you know someone the team should fear in the playoffs i'm not telling you that can't happen

08:13i'm just telling you i'm not there yet let's start with them being able to line up and get stuff

08:20right and not turn the ball over and i think that vrabel will instill that that's what i'm expecting

08:25to see i think they should be able to beat bad teams and they get a lot of them on their schedule

08:30but you know again i just feel the credibility factor has been restored you listen to vrabel talk

08:37and the way he answers questions about what the plan is and and there's it's a whole different level

08:43to even compare it to mayo frankly is ridiculous because it's not even close yeah i'm i'm pretty

08:49confident uh he's gonna get him back to level like that i feel strongly about it'll be more

08:54buttoned up it won't be stupid they'll be able to protect the quarterback i i would think and i think

08:58it's going to translate to wins yeah like i think they're going to be a middle of the pack team and i

09:02feel pretty good about that that vrabel's going to get him right back to the middle of the pack if not

09:07a little better and that's really my expectation and i really feel he's capable of that i mean he's

09:12like i think he can do what he did in tennessee which is make him fundamental tough that sort of

09:18nuts and bolts kind of thing i think he's got the nuts and bolts when i listen to him talk just about

09:23blocking and tackling like i just feel that's it's solid now unfortunately the nfl game has become

09:31not really about that anymore but i think that doing that gets you to the middle of the pack

09:37even with a bad roster and i'm i feel good about him doing that i i think he's that guy

09:42now him like the lofty 11 12 13 win i'm not no i'm not i'm just saying i think they're i think

09:50they're a playoff contending team and i feel you know really strongly about that i feel strongly that

09:56they're going to be seven eight nine wins in that range i mean they're a real operation again is what

10:01it feels like and any lower than seven to me is a complete fail and something went really wrong

10:05or my faith in vrabel has been misaligned because i do think a head coach is good is

10:12you know head coach you're gonna take a bad team to a championship like that's just silly talk but i

10:18think a good coach takes a bad team to the middle of the pack raises the floor yes that's what i think

10:24a bad coach does i mean a good coach does for a bad team rather he takes you to the middle of the

10:29pack after that you know talent and all sorts of things and then elite coaching takes good talent

10:34makes it great and now we're talking about a whole different level but first things first

10:38rabel rabel should have this this first step that they should be taken and i feel good about that

10:46you

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