When the New England Patriots signed Stefon Diggs to a three-year, $63.5 million contract in free agency, they knew they had to be patient. Having torn his ACL just five months earlier, the veteran wide receiver was still in the process of recovering from his injury and despite an optimistic outlook no lock to be ready for training camp.

Fast forward four months and to Diggs not just being cleared for full camp participation, but immediately filling the role he was signed to play in the first place. The 31-year-old stepped right into the Patriots’ starting lineup, serving as the team’s primary Z-receiver and one of quarterback Drake Maye’s go-to players throughout the summer so far.

”He just adds a swagger in the room. He gets defenses on notice when he’s in the game, and he helps the guys around him,” Maye recently said about Diggs.

Even though they did not get to showcase it in the Patriots’ preseason opener against the Washington Commanders due to what head coach Mike Vrabel later called a “coaching decision,” the Maye-Diggs connection has been a productive one so far. The veteran wideout looks like he did not skip a beat and appears to be well on his way to becoming a crucial part of New England’s offense this season.

Unsurprisingly, the coaching staff is quite happy with Diggs’ progress so far.

“I think where he’s at in his process right now is where we want him to be,” wide receivers coach Todd Downing explained earlier this week. “He’s working hard when he’s out there with his reps, and you see him making some plays.”

However, Downing made sure to point out that smooth sailing should not be expected at all times. Diggs experienced that himself recently, when he dropped a well-placed would-be touchdown in a last-play-of-the-game scenario in a recent practice.

“The big thing with him is understand that we can’t confuse results with the process,” Downing said. “So, if there’s a day that he doesn’t have a whole bunch of production, that doesn’t mean that he didn’t do his job and get open. The process for him is going to have to be learning this system and learning exactly what the quarterback and what Josh [McDaniels] are looking for, and making sure that he’s in the right spot at the right time. As he continues to refine that, I think he’s stay on the trajectory we expect him to be.”

Diggs’ combination of playmaking skills and ability to serve as a volume target for Maye was only one part of the reason why the Patriots picked him up during the offseason. Another was his leadership.

Halfway through training camp, he continues to leave a positive impression on what is room mostly consisting of players on their rookie contracts.

“He’s been a great guy,” said first-year wideout Kyle Williams. “Honestly, a great mentor, dropping lots of gems. He’s been in the league for a decade, so it’s been pretty long. All the gems and the knowledge that he’s dropped on us, it’s been very useful. Just a great dude and a great teammate overall.”

Williams, a third-round draft pick in April, added that Diggs has been echoing the “don’t confuse the results with the process” mantra shared by their position coach.

“It’s great to have a veteran like 8,” three-year veteran Kayshon Boutte said about Diggs. “He’s a straight-forward guy. Anytime he’s here, you feel the energy. Anytime. I think he’s good for our room, too. A guy that can lead us and have us on the right path.”

With the first half of training camp over, Diggs has fully established himself as a leader in New England’s receiver room. In the meantime, he put himself on that right path as well — both physically in regards to his recovery from major knee injury, and mentally as far as the acclimatization to Josh McDaniels’ offense is concerned.

Will the results reflect that when the regular season starts in early September? Time will tell, but the positive mood surrounding Diggs upon his arrival has not died down at One Patriot Place.