Packers WR Turned to Patriots Star for Injury Advice

New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs comes into his first season in Foxboro following a notably impressive offseason of recovery from his previous ACL tear suffered in the middle of the 2024 campaign, an injury that would only take him off the field for eight months before he was back in the fold and at practice in training camp.

It's not often you see such a speedy recovery from a devastating injury like an ACL tear, especially with an older receiver like Diggs, who now heads into his age-31 season with New England. Yet, in just one offseason of rehab, he's been fully cleared before Week 1 of the regular season next month.

Diggs' eye-catching recovery has also captured the attention of receivers in a similar spot across the league, one of those being Green Bay Packers wideout Christian Watson, who also tore his ACL during the 2024 season, just two months following Diggs' injury, and even decided to reach out the Patriots receiver's way to get some insight this summer.

“I talked to Stefon Diggs about his recovery process,” Watson said per WFRV’s Cameron Ezeir. “I trained down in (Davie, Fla.) with the same people he was rehabbing with, and that went really well. I talked to him when I was first getting into the process, because it obviously was going really smooth for him, so I just picked his brain a little bit.”

Watson, a standout for the Packers' receiving core when he's been on the field, clearly notices the strides Diggs has made since the events of last October, and while being in the same situation with his knee, it's easy to see why he'd opt to get a bit of insight from the Patriots' offseason addition to follow suit heading into his fourth season pro.

During Watson's most recent season before getting hurt, he played in 15 games and logged 29 receptions for 620 receiving yards, good for third-best within the Packers' pass-catching core, paired with two touchdowns in the process. As of now, reports indicate Watson's "ahead of schedule" when it comes to his return to the field, yet he still doesn't have a direct timeline to return.

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