Stefon Diggs: 'I believe in this team and the quarterback'

Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who they acquired in a trade from the Buffalo Bills this offseason, spoke to reporters Tuesday for the first time since the deal was made.

It's been two months since the Texans dealt a 2025 second-pick for the two-time All-Pro receiver. Diggs has since been seen at the J.J. Watt celebrity softball game for charity and periodically posts to social media about his experiences navigating life as a new Houstonian.

We can tell you for sure he's still adjusting the heat and the traffic. But let's take a look at what he said in his first public appearance with media members.

Here is a transcription of that exchange:

On how he is doing with timing and chemistry in the time he has had with C.J. Stroud

“It's just the beginning. I obviously have only been here a couple days, spent some time with OTA’s, which was exciting. I am also getting used to the heat a little bit. So, it's been fun. I have been taking it one day at time. Obviously, it's a work in progress. At the end of the day, it's still football, so I am having a lot of fun.”

On what excites him the most about this team and what he is most looking forward to this season

“Just the guys that I've been around. Obviously, the quarterback position, the fellow receivers. Congratulations to Nico (Collins) as well, he is getting paid and putting a lot of work in as well. I watched him on tape before I got here. He is definitely one of the best receivers we got. Tank (Dell), obviously, you know I knew Tank for a while now. He's like a little bro. And little (John) Metchie, just spending times with the guys and being around the team and building that camaraderie. I have been in the league a little while now, so being around a good group of guys is always a breath of fresh air, too.”

On where his mindset is at coming in and where he wants to put his input into on the team

“Just more so earning the respect of my teammates. As a player, I've been around the league for a little while now, so earning the respect of your peers first and earning the respect of your coaches, being where you're supposed to be, and taking your time each and every day. Really valuing the moment. I take it pretty serious, but loving what I'm doing and loving who I'm being around. My impact is going to be even more so just taking it one day at a time, being myself. At the end of the day, I can't be nobody else -- I'm not, I’m still going to still be myself. Continue to build and grow in the right direction that comes from earning the respect of your teammates and being accountable with the plays and new stuff they got going on. Like I say, it's only my fourth day out here, so.”

On how it feels to be one of the veterans to be able to mentor the younger wide players

“It's crazy, because I've been in this the league for a little while now, and I have those conversations with them and listen to them talk and I'm like, ‘You sound a lot like myself when I was your age’. Like I said, it's a breath of fresh air. It kind of keeps me in the mindset of, I just remember being in their shoes and I'm equally as hungry, if even not more now. I've had a taste of playoffs and getting close. I see their mindset and the things they want for themselves and it's everything I always wanted for myself. It's always like a little chuckle when I hear them say, ‘I want this,’ or ‘I want to do this’. I'm like, ‘You're going to get all of that, just keep working’. Obviously, the young guys that we got, they work extremely hard and they're definitely uber talented. So being around them, like I said, it's a breath of fresh air for me. Also being a vet, I have seen it, I have seen a lot. I know what it takes to be successful on the field. I know what it takes to win. So, I'm trying to bring that mindset each and every day.”

On if he feels like he has been chasing a Super Bowl and if this might be the place that he can achieve that goal

“Well, I mean, I feel like I've been chasing the Super Bowl since I got in the league. To say like you get to one specific place and say this is where I want to try to win it, but this is where I'm at right now. Obviously I believe in this team and the quarterback. Those are unspoken things that we all can assume. For me, chasing a ring, it isn't like I came here to chase it. I came here to win and that starts with game one. Moving forward, of course you want a ring. It sounds good to be like you won a Super Bowl and you won a ring, but it takes a lot of effort and consistency. For me, I'm going to take it in one day at a time. It starts in practice, it starts in walk-through, it starts in the meeting rooms. For me, winning is always in the forefront of my brain with everything I do. It's one thing at time, rather than jumping the gun. I don't put the carrot before the horse.”

On how he deals with the perception that things didn't end well in Buffalo for him

“Personally, I don't take things personal from people I don't know personally. When you garnish your opinion from what you hear from somebody its different if you know them on a personal level. Not too many people know me on a personal level, and I don't particularly share a lot of my thoughts. I keep work, work. I try not to dive into how I feel about certain things or like people's opinions. I have been in the league, go into my tenth year in the league. Obviously, I put in a lot of work to get where I'm at. The respect level is always there. Who I am as a player, they know who I am and I'm a true competitor. I love to win. I love getting better, who I am as a person. This is a job at the end of the day. We build a family environment with the team. Those guys would know me personally, that's why I earn the respect of them first, along with my coaches. I try not to take things personally from people I don't know on a personal level. Rule of thumb.”

On if it a good thing that there is a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball or not and how you create a balance

“I feel like that's something I knew coming in. Before I got here, obviously, I knew that Nico had a hell of a year, Tank just got hurt, but he was going to have a hell of a year. It's always a balance. It's not my job to call the plays. I just got to get open and catch it. For me, it is not something I would worry about. You do your job you get the ball. I feel like this offense is one of the offenses that got a lot of horses in the stable, you know what I'm saying? You let them all loose, and we'll figure the rest out.”

On what drew C.J. Stroud to him and how did that relationship develop over time

“Obviously, like at the end of the season it was a lot of gray area as far as what I was going do, whether I was going to be in Buffalo or not. Going into the Pro Bowl, obviously, that's a place where the best athletes in the world, the best football players in the world are. It just happened organically that he was not too many seats from me in the Pro Bowl where we get dressed and we had chopped it up a little bit and I got to know him a little bit. I was like, he is pretty cool. So, kind of when things started hitting the fan and Houston was on the radar, it was ironic. I don't believe in coincidences, everything happens for a reason. I asked God to light my path and here I am. It is definitely something to get super excited about. I don't know how many times I smiled. I didn't get to share the smiles with y’all, but I promise you I'm super happy.”

On what went through his mind when he was traded

“For me, I try not to get too personal, but I kind of felt it was going in that direction. Throughout the season, had some ups and downs, especially after the first eight. We had coaching shifting and different things going different ways, differences scheme-wise, schematic, and the up and downs of it. But for me, you kind of feel it in the air a little bit, especially personal feelings. For me, when I got traded obviously, I was happy. I was in a good place. Like I said, I told God to light my path and here I am. He makes no mistakes. I'm standing firm in that, I am standing strong. When I say I've been smiling, I've been smiling.”

On if there are things he is doing to adjust to his environmental change on and off the field

“Yeah, it's a little crazy just because the previous places I was, it's not hot. It was kind of cool. Got good weather for the most part until they get cold out, and then you come to a place like this and it's near H-e-l-l, every day. As far as like my approach with the game, being somewhere new, I kind of point it that with being a professional and hydrating the right way. No extracurriculars during the week, trying to have all the energy that you can, just taking my time. The nutrition part is obviously another layer, as a professional and as an adult, the older I get you got to take care of your body a little bit more. I'm packing on a little bit now, so we'll see.”

On what are some of the lessons he learned in Minnesota and Buffalo to make it all come together here in Houston

“It's crazy because that's a question I ask myself. I'm a big person of self-reflection. Being in those places before, you know, I like asking God to light my path, I still had to look where I came from and a lot of things I had to learn. Whether it was in Minnesota, Buffalo, what were the things that worked and what were the things that could have helped in this situation? So, I feel like things that I'm carrying over is just putting a lot more time in. Football is football at the end of the day, but you don't know what the extra meeting would do or extra time after practice or extra time in the morning would do. May be some little things that can carry you over and do something that help you on the field. So just spending more time. You think you're working, and at times you can have a lot of success, but that extra layer or extra little bit of practice time or meeting time could win you an extra game or get you on the same page with your quarterback. For me, just what I really kind of garnish from my past is putting more time in. It's not about effort. For me it was never about effort and grind, because I put the time in off the field and on the field. But it's more so keep building and being on the right pace consistently. When you get later on in the season, you want to be hitting on all cylinders. That comes from putting that extra time in. For me, I give you a little tidbit, just putting a lot more time in. Even though you think you're grinding, working smarter, not only hard.”

On if he was able to pick Case Keenum brain and find out about the organization and if the Diggs brother match up takes on more meaning in the battle of Texas

“I think that's a two-for-one question. I let you pick one and let somebody else pick the last one. So you can pick one you want.”

On playing against his brother (Trevon) when Texans face Cowboys on Nov. 18

“I knew he was going to pick that one. It's later on in the season. Right now, I'm spending a lot of time with my brother. Obviously, he's healing up, getting on the right pace with his rehab and recovery. I want to see him hitting on all cylinders. Down the line, that's down the line something I can get excited about when it comes, but it does add a little extra incentive closer to the holiday, we get that win.”

On how he has you accepted the family build that is within the Texans organization

“It's crazy, because kind of what we touched on a little bit. I don't take things personal from the people I don't know personally, but these people I'm learning personally. They welcome me. I don't know if they call it the southern hospitality, but they're very welcoming and very open arms and I just feel like it's important for me to be a part of things like that and be a part of -- obviously charity is just one layer of it, but being around people that came before you. Not only giving them the respect but giving them that, like I'm here to follow those footsteps into falling in line with Andre Johnson, he's going in the Hall of Fame. That's what you want to be. So when I'm talking to the young guys and I'm like I've been in your shoes before, I'm taking it a step further at this point to be around the people that came before me, and hopefully a little bit of that will rub off. That family environment, I feel it. It's genuine. You thrive in that space. You thrive in a space where you're loved. Thrive in a space of being around those who truly care and truly want to see you win. So for me, I just been taking it one day at a time and trying to do the right [explicit]. Excuse my language.”

On what his impressions of Bobby Slowik’s creativity are and what the offense can cook up together

“I just saw him move the pieces around last year, obviously with Nico. I feel like you give him the pieces, he going to make them a shape. When I look at his offense and the time that I've spent with him, I'm kind of relaying back to a couple teams that I've seen on tape. He's shown me a little bit. Those guys had a lot of stars on that team. They played at a very high level and had a lot of success. So like I said, it's a lot of questions, but I really look forward to making another shape.”

On how instrumental Josh Allen was to help him elevate to the next level

“I feel like he was an intricate piece in my career. At that point, when I left Minnesota or whatever, I presumed I was a good player, but I always felt more for myself. I felt like I was better than that, that I could be better than that. Up to that point I was just like, I'm going to roll the dice and bet on myself, and they sent me to Buffalo. I don't know if they sent me to Buffalo with the most kindness, the greatest intent, but all is well that ends well. When I got to Buffalo, Josh was -- Josh is still my guy. People don't really understand what it's like to be out there. He really embraced me, kind of had the southern hospitality. So for me, he embraced me, spent a lot of time, and I probably wouldn't be right here if it wasn't for him. I got a lot of the love for that boy. Ya'll give him a hug and a kiss for me.”