On Wednesday, the Patriots held their second open-to-the-media Organized Team Activity (OTA) practice of the spring, with head coach Mike Vrabel meeting with the assembled press beforehand.
Right out of the gate, Vrabel was asked about the now-viral video of wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who could be seen sitting on the back of a boat handing a plastic bag with an unknown substance to a group of three women in bikinis.
“A video of Stefon Diggs has gotten a lot of traction in the last 24 hours or so,” said MassLive’s Karen Guregian. “He's on a boat having a good time. But the question comes in as to a certain substance that people are guessing what is and isn't. Is this something that the team has to look into?”
“Well, it's something that we're aware of,” said Vrabel. “And obviously we want to make great decisions on and off the field, and we're hoping that with our time here on the field today - and that when we don't have a script and we're on the call periods - that we're making great decisions. And so the message will be the same for all our players, that we're trying to make great decisions, and any conversations that I've had with Stefon will remain between him and I and the club.”
When asked if he’s talked to Diggs since the video began making the rounds, Vrabel said he “talks to our players every single day - the ones that are here and the ones that aren’t.”
Vrabel was asked a follow-up on whether or not Diggs would be practicing on Wednesday, to which he said, “Not if he’s not here.”
“So he’s not here?” asked NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry.
“You guys will find out in a minute, but no,” said Vrabel.
Shortly after Vrabel’s press availability, this was confirmed as practice got underway. And while Diggs is still out rehabbing his surgically repaired right ACL, Guregian followed up saying that Diggs appeared to be at 1 Patriot Place last week “according to a video.”
As she tried to go into further detail, Vrabel cut her off, saying, “Everything that we’re gonna do, Karen, is we’re gonna coach the guys that show up 8:00, the ones that say, ‘Hey I got a situation, we’ll be here at 8:05.’ We’ll coach those as well. This is a voluntary part of our offseason program. And every player that’s not here, which there aren’t many, they’ve been in communication with me and their position coaches.”
With Diggs still in the rehab process with no true timeline given out by the team, Guregian followed up with a question of where Vrabel thinks Diggs is at progress-wise based off of the “times he’s been around” Foxborough this spring.
“Again, the timelines and the prognosis and everything - we're working hard to get him back and to be ready to go,” said Vrabel. “But when he's here we'll coach him, and we'll have everything ready to go.”
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