Stefon Diggs was the star of the show during the New England Patriots' win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The 31-year-old wide receiver finished the 42-13 win with a season-high 101 receiving yards on six receptions, erasing any lingering doubts that last year's ACL tear would prevent him from being an impactful playmaker in New England.
Diggs' best performance of September comes on the heels of the Patriots moving him into a slot role. The former Maryland product has spent the majority of his NFL career playing on the outside, but Sunday's success was too promising to ignore and might be the way to go if New England wants to maximize whatever he has left in the tank.
With that being said, Diggs becoming the Patriots' new slot receiver is bad news for a teammate who held the job at the start of the season, DeMario Douglas.
Stefon Diggs Has Stolen Patriots’ Slot Receiver Job from DeMario Douglas
Douglas has been quarterback Drake Maye's main slot receiver since the Patriots drafted the ex-Liberty WR with the 2023 draft's 212nd-overall selection. He took the next step forward last season when he tallied career highs in catches (66), yards (621), and touchdowns (3), leaving the fan base eager to see what he had in store for Year 3.
Through four games, the answer to that question is "not much." Including Sunday's victory, Douglas has now caught only five of his 13 targets (38.5%) for 13 receiving yards and one touchdown. He's struggling to catch most balls thrown his way, which is likely why he wasn't even targeted once at Gillette Stadium in Week 4.
Now that Diggs is poised to take over in the slot, it's hard to envision where Douglas fits in moving forward. Mack Hollins and Kayshon Boutte were the Patriots' main outside men against the Panthers, while tight ends Hunter Henry (2) and Austin Hooper (1) even had more targets than Douglas this weekend.
With Kyle Williams and Efton Chism still in the mix, it isn't as if the Pats are lacking wideouts if they want to move Douglas down the pecking order.
Douglas will have the perfect opportunity to prove he deserves to be in the offensive mix when the Patriots visit the rival Buffalo Bills for Week 5's Sunday Night Football clash. He's finished his last three encounters against the Bills with 34 or fewer receiving yards and has never scored a TD against them, though, meaning Douglas is facing an uphill battle towards getting back in Pats fans' good graces.
And if Diggs has another strong performance against the AFC East rival (and his former team), Douglas' climb will only grow steeper.