FOXBOROUGH - Accountability may not matter to you. Perhaps you don't care how athletes from your favorite team behave off the field - or even on - so long as they deliver the plays you expect and the team is winning. Hell, some teams - most, in fact - will let plenty of things slide, that is until the juice is no longer worth the squeeze.
The Patriots found themselves answering that very question in the aftermath of Stefon Diggs' viral video. That, combined with his reluctance to spend a majority of the 'voluntary' OTAs in Foxborough, created what would best be described as a bit of a situation. After this spring's final on-field practice (the Pats are cutting mandatory mini-camp a day short), Diggs met with the media and, unsurprisingly, was as slithery in front of the microphone as he is running routes.
“I want to be as candid with you as possible, but I kind of have a thing where I don’t talk about my personal life with people I don’t know personally," said Diggs, adding. "I had a conversation with Vrabes (Mike Vrabel) obviously and I’ll echo everything he said, hoping everybody is making good decisions. And I had a conversation with people in the building as well. So everything else is everything else. The particulars is all internal.”
Naturally, Diggs was asked what was in the bag. Full disclosure: I didn't expect him to tell us what the substance was, but the question had to be asked and was.
"Obviously it’s a conversation that’s happening internal. I can’t have too much of a conversation about it," he said. "I’ve been in this league 10 years; you can format your question many different ways; I’m obviously going to answer it the same way.”
From there, we got the full Stefon Diggs experience that I've been telling you about for months. He claims to be an open book. He is engaging, charming even. That is until the questions get harder. Then the book gets slammed shut. And while Diggs did that with a smile on his face - one that may fool you or others - make no mistake that this was not a man being accountable. Not publicly, at least.
The 31-year-old declined to answer questions about whether he knew he was being recorded, regretted the incident, or what he had learned from the experience.
"Obviously, I don't want to be rude, but I would hate to repeat myself for the fourth time," he said. "But you want me to repeat myself again? Say the same thing again. I mean, I'm trying to be as polite as possible..."
Perhaps. It's clear the team and Diggs have come to some sort of understanding, and Vrabel commented on the wideout's energy before practice Monday.
However, it's not as if all is a distant memory. In fact, the head coach mentioned once again that he would have liked to have all the players around for this portion of the football calendar. Considering most did,
I think it's fair to say that Vrabel may forgive, but he doesn't forget.
There's also a question about the wide receiver's contract and the payout dates for his $12 million signing bonus, which was contingent, in part, on passing a physical. Team sources I spoke to wouldn't answer that query directly; however, they did note that Diggs wasn't a full participant in practice, with the implication that the medical checkpoint hasn't been cleared. I asked Diggs that directly.
"I haven't had it yet," he said. "We had something like it, so maybe I have passed it, but it's kind of up to them. I've kind of just been playing it by ear and just doing what I can."
When I mentioned that his money hinged on that physical, he laughed, "Oh, you're saying have I got the money yet. I gotta check the account."
We'll keep efforting an honest answer, but in the meantime, the conversation shifted to football. Diggs hasn't ruled out the possibility of being ready for week one, though admitted there is still work to be done. He also spoke about the young receivers on this roster, quarterback Drake Maye - "You can tell he's a dawg from the get-go" - and learning the Josh McDaniels offense (definitely some similarities to the stuff Diggs ran in Buffalo under Brian Daboll).
If Diggs can manage to keep his mind and body strictly focused on football, he represents a necessary upgrade for this offense. But you're wearing blinders if you think this relationship has gotten off to the kind of start management was hoping for, and they'll be paying close attention to him in the weeks and months that follow.