I’m not a big Stefon Diggs fan. Too much drama – in Minnesota, Buffalo and now showing up in New England. But I will concede that he’s outperformed my expectations.
He played in all 17 games (itself a surprise) and he managed 85 catches for 1,013 yards, operating as the lead guy in New England’s receiving corps.
Now, Diggs didn’t make a lot of big plays. He averaged only 11.9 yards per catch, and he scored only 4 TDs. But that was to be expected, with him being a 32-year-old coming off a torn ACL.
Most impressively, Diggs caught 83 percent of the balls that were thrown his way. Since the NFL started publishing target data over 30 years ago, there have been almost 1,200 wide receivers with at least 100 targets in a season. Only one of those guys – 2018 Michael Thomas – had a higher catch rate than Diggs.
Only 28 have caught even 75 percent, and of those 28, Diggs and Thomas are the only two who’ve done it three times. Diggs had his three at three different cities.
| RECEIVERS CATCHING 75 PERCENT OF TARGETS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Tgt | No | Yards | Avg | TD | Pct |
| 2018 | Michael Thomas, N.O. | 147 | 125 | 1,405 | 11.2 | 9 | 85.0 |
| 2025 | Stefon Diggs, N.E. | 102 | 85 | 1,013 | 11.9 | 4 | 83.3 |
| 2024 | Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det. | 141 | 115 | 1,263 | 11.0 | 12 | 81.6 |
| 2019 | Michael Thomas, N.O. | 185 | 149 | 1,725 | 11.6 | 9 | 80.5 |
| 2021 | Hunter Renfrow, L.V. | 128 | 103 | 1,038 | 10.1 | 9 | 80.5 |
| 2025 | Puka Nacua, LAR | 166 | 129 | 1,715 | 13.3 | 10 | 77.7 |
| 2023 | Rashee Rice, K.C. | 102 | 79 | 938 | 11.9 | 7 | 77.5 |
| 2007 | Wes Welker, N.E. | 145 | 112 | 1,175 | 10.5 | 8 | 77.2 |
| 2022 | JuJu Smith-Schuster, K.C. | 101 | 78 | 933 | 12.0 | 3 | 77.2 |
| 2020 | Davante Adams, G.B. | 149 | 115 | 1,374 | 12.0 | 18 | 77.2 |
| 2021 | Chris Godwin, T.B. | 127 | 98 | 1,103 | 11.3 | 5 | 77.2 |
| 2012 | Randall Cobb, G.B. | 104 | 80 | 954 | 11.9 | 8 | 76.9 |
| 2017 | Golden Tate, Det. | 120 | 92 | 1,003 | 10.9 | 5 | 76.7 |
| 2020 | Cole Beasley, Buff. | 107 | 82 | 967 | 11.8 | 4 | 76.6 |
| 2020 | Stefon Diggs, Buff. | 166 | 127 | 1,535 | 12.1 | 8 | 76.5 |
| 2016 | Michael Thomas, N.O. | 121 | 92 | 1,137 | 12.4 | 9 | 76.0 |
| 2024 | Khalil Shakir, Buff. | 100 | 76 | 821 | 10.8 | 4 | 76.0 |
| 2009 | Wes Welker, N.E. | 162 | 123 | 1,348 | 11.0 | 4 | 75.9 |
| 2021 | Cooper Kupp, LAR | 191 | 145 | 1,947 | 13.4 | 16 | 75.9 |
| 2020 | JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 128 | 97 | 831 | 8.6 | 9 | 75.8 |
| 2020 | Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 132 | 100 | 1,054 | 10.5 | 10 | 75.8 |
| 2015 | Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 103 | 78 | 1,069 | 13.7 | 14 | 75.7 |
| 2021 | Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det. | 119 | 90 | 912 | 10.1 | 5 | 75.6 |
| 2016 | Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 125 | 94 | 1,128 | 12.0 | 7 | 75.2 |
| 2023 | Adam Thielen, Car. | 137 | 103 | 1,014 | 9.8 | 4 | 75.2 |
| 2015 | Larry Fitzgerald, Ari. | 145 | 109 | 1,215 | 11.2 | 9 | 75.2 |
| 2016 | Stefon Diggs, Min. | 112 | 84 | 903 | 10.8 | 3 | 75.0 |
| 2014 | Jarvis Landry, Mia. | 112 | 84 | 758 | 9.0 | 5 | 75.0 |
—Ian Allan