Games with Names - Dudes on Stefon Diggs

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

We've got a bonus mini-episode for you this week! We're covering New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs! Gronk and Julian Edelman discuss what makes Diggs so great and some of their favorite stories.Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every Lenovo is built to let them move. Let them put a chicken on a skateboard, please. Let them scale, copy, and change it up. Let them make a purple sky with raining soccer balls. Incoming! Let them launch their vision to the world. Let them make. Powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, Lenovo gives creatives everything they need.

Lenovo.com. Let creatives create. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, some incredible guests like Kumail Nanjiani. Let's start with your cat. How is she? She is not with us. She.

Great, great, great way to start. Maybe you will cry. Ross Matthews. You know what kids always say to me? Are you a boy or girl? Oh my God. All the time. That's so funny. I love it.

So I know. So I try to butcher it up for kids so they're not confused. Yeah, but you're butching it up is basically like Doris Day. Right. No, I turn into Be Arthur. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, hello, all my people, what's up? It's Questlove.

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with the one and only ASAP Rocky. He reflects on his journey from Harlem Roots to global icon status and discovering the hip-hop origin of his name. The ledge was on the TV. Rakim had the bucket hat can go join on. My post is like, that's Raqim.

That's who you named after. I just, damn, that fuck I swear. But listen to the Kemp. Quest Love Show on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist, Dr. Steve Poulter, to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional

pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the Valley of Despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward. Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to the mailroom on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. Standing six feet tall and weighing 1951 pounds. This electric wide receiver was drafted in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL draft. Since entering the NFL, he's gone on to record six straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2018 to 2023.

earned four Pro Bowl selections and in 2020 he led the NFL in receptions and receiving yards. He's an A-lister off the field as well. Ooh, A-I, speaking facts. A-lister. Regularly, that's a tough word for me right now. Regularly.

That concussion that I took from that hit, but I still made the comeback. Regularly. What is it? Regularly? Yeah, regularly. There we go. It is what it is.

appearing at fashion shows and high profile celebrity functions. Let's get on Stefan Diggs, ladies and gentlemen. Jeffon Diggs. Jules, what's the first thing you think of when you hear the name, Stefan Diggs? Oh, what is that? What's that? I don't know.

That's a celebration. You did tell me what was the first thing. That's the first thing that I thought. You show me what the first thing. You did some crazy dance. Like you closed your nose and you started like waving like there's a stinky fart in front of you. No. Like what is that dance?

First thing that comes to mind is, he's, my guy is coming back. Tough. Tough football player. 31 coming off the ACL and he's looking good. I mean, superhuman damn near because I think he only had like seven months off this ACL before he started playing in games. Yes, and that's why we're talking about him as a comeback player because, yeah, he's had an unbelievable career. But we're talking about him as a comeback player because the last, was it the last two seasons or was it just last season only? Last one, only one season.

He was with the Houston Texans. And he was having a pretty solid year. Solid. He blew out his ACL in week 8, October 27th in that game in 2020. That's deep. And then you wait about a month or two before you even get the surgery because you've got to build up your knee. and the strength everything around it. The swelling has to go down.

And that's why we're talking about him as comeback player this year. Because on a normal basis, he's not a comeback player because he's a star player. So that's why we're talking about it like that. And to come back, the way that he has come back at this age is what is making this such a phenomenal story. Like he's running full speed out there. His quickness is still there. He started week one. He was in training camp making plays.

He was kind of uncomfortable. You know in situations as well and that's what is so spectacular about what he's doing because I've torn my ACL before Julian and it took me about you know week five six to even start feeling right and I got comeback player of the year but it took me you know onto the Cincinnati game. Yeah. It really did that that whole you know thing with Bill onto Cincinnati. Well that onto Cincinnati was also let's let's get gronk back on as well. And it really happened like that. So it's just amazing what he has been able to do at such at this age with a new quarterback, young buck quarterback, new team, and be performing at the level that he's performing at right now for the New England Patriots.

And I also think he's just a swaggy dude. You mean, you see him at the Met Gala regularly. I mean, we've seen the boat parties. These guys got boat parties. He walks in fashion shows. cites Alan Iverson for it that's another cool guy he's just a cool guy he's a swag dad

and he just had a kid with Cardi I mean you gotta if you have a rapper that's your girlfriend like one of the most famous rappers in the world you gotta be electric as shit you gotta be electric you gotta be like on at all times

he's he's on like you gotta be ready to go and he's ready to go I feel like at all times no matter of situations I feel like he's a guy that gets like four or five hours of sleep maximum and it just wakes up and like his body's just twitching and he can run full speed routes and just and just be able to go you know i mean he's

probably got top three most famous girlfriend of any patriot probably i mean joselle was damn famous cardi b's freaking famous well josell was number one by far and then i think it's cardi b she's number two so it's not easy she's top three she's top three she's top Top two. Easy. Easy. Top two. Easy.

Yes. Camille? You mean, Camille's pretty famous. Yeah. Camille's up there. Camille's up there. Yeah.

But I mean, you know, Cardi B's number two still. I mean, I love Camille, but I mean, yeah. That's like saying,

you know, that Drake May is more famous than Tom Brady right now. Yeah. It's, I mean, great, you know, great qualities,

but just not more famous than Brady. No, but, you know, he, I think he gets a bad rap also. He had a bad rap. Remember when he left Buffalo?

Like, you know, I think him being motivated. I think the injuries helped him in this situation to go on to a young football team that needs a thriving leader and a leader with attitude. And he's changed that receiver room in New England around tremendously. Like, you see booty making plays. You see pop.

making plays. You see all these guys making plays, and he's the guy who's getting paid the most. So, and he's making a lot of plays. He's, he's got a lot of production this year. He's averaging like six, seven catches a game. He knows he had a revenge game, week five, first time facing his old team as a Patriot, the Bills, goes for 10, 146, breakout game. I mean, he's, he's shown a lot of toughness this year. Mental, physical toughness. And an attitude. that I think that has helped the team. Yeah, big time has helped the team. And Vrable, you know, has that mental toughness as well.

And then he brings in the guy like Diggs who has the mental toughness and they're bonding together with it. Like they're not budding heads, it seems like, like that hasn't been the case at all. And if you combine those two, like with a head of coach like that and a star wide receiver who's a veteran who can show and lead the way, I mean, that's a great combo. That's a great formulation. has been just helping Drake May out tremendously, you know, to help his growth go and to be a reliable receiver, you know,

in the slot position or wherever he is on the field. I mean, that's huge, huge, huge push for a guy like Drake May. And Stefan Diggs, I mean, I would say the best thing for his career recently was actually going to Houston. That frustration in Buffalo, whatever was going on there. When he went to Houston, like I feel like it was kind of a learning lesson for him, whatever went down in Buffalo. And now he's bringing the best juice he can possibly be in the best version of Diggs

to the New England Patriots. And the Patriots have so far strike gold bringing him in as a free agent and paying him to be the guy that he needs to be. It's crazy that it was a fifth round draft pick. Fifth rounder? Yeah. He's had some elite years. I mean, he led the league in receptions and yards.

I mean, will he go over a thousand? He's going to go over a thousand yards this year, I think. Well, what's he going for right now? He's got 659 yards with seven games to go. Yes. So, yes, he's going to go over 1,000 yards this year. He's going to have another 1,000 yards season. And I think he's going to get stronger, like, to your point earlier.

And to when I tore my ACL, I was better at the end of the year than I was at the beginning of the year because you need to get that endurance strength on that knee. You're getting stronger. He's still recovering that. fucking thing. Yes. And it's probably, you know, when you get on it, seven, eight months into it. Yes, you're out there. And even if you're looking like you're in stride and playing great, your knee is going to swell up on you no matter what. That's just how it is from month seven to 10. It swells up on you. And it feels weak kind of sometimes after practice or a game of being on

it. And it only gets stronger throughout the year. And you only get better and you only trust in your body more as the year goes on. So he's going to go over a thousand. He's going over a thousand. And he's going to start producing more and more just like he has been. He's been really good in the system for Drake, like safety blanket wise. They've been using them in a lot of spots. They put them in, you know, the three spot.

They'll put them in the slot. They'll put them outside at X. You know, so he's shown his versatility. I'm sure he likes playing with Coach McDaniels, who's been probably a good addition for that whole offense. Every Lenovo is built to. Let them move. Let them put a chicken on a skateboard, please.

Let them scale, copy, and change it up. Let them make a purple sky with raining soccer balls. Incoming! Let them launch their vision to the world. Let them make. Powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, Lenovo gives creatives everything they need. Lenovo.com. Let creatives create.

Hey, what's up, y'all? This is Questlove recently. I had the opportunity to sit down with Aesap Rocky ahead of his album release. Don't be dumb. He reflects on his journey from his Harlem roots to global icon status, discovering the hip-hop origin of his name.

The ledge was on the TV. Raq Kim had the bucket hat can go during the past. He was like, that's Rakim. That's who you named after. I just was like, damn, that's swag. Rocky offers a window into not only a boundary-breaking artist, but as a man committed to fusing creative ideas, community and remaining unapologetically himself.

Have you ever gotten roasted for any of your outfits? For sure. Some people don't be getting the vision. Look, they could roast me, they could cook me, they could deep fried meat, they can saute, whatever they want. There's nobody who can do with my fashion sense and my taste is impeccable. I'm just like, I impress myself a lot. It's an amazing conversation.

One, you definitely don't want to miss. So listen to the Questlove show on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we've got some incredible guests like Kumail Nanjiani. Let's start with your cat. How is she? She is not with a thing.

Okay, great, great, great way to start. So this is a great beginning and hopefully you'll be able to, I don't know, maybe you will cry. Amanda Seifred. Life is so short. If you feel something like that, you have that fire in you for this experience, It's not for a guy.

It's for the experience of being in love. And, like, it's bigger than a guy. Elizabeth Olson. I love swimming naked so much. And I know you love taking pictures of yourself naked. I love to be naked. I just want to be in my brown underwear all the time. Ross Matthews.

You know what kids always say to me? Are you a boy or girl? Oh, my God. All the time. I love it. So I'm always like, hi. I try to butcher it up for kids, you know, so they're not confused. Yeah, but you're butching it up is basically like Doris Day.

Right? No. I turn into Be Arthur. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, this is Dr. Jesse Mills, director of the men's clinic at UCLA Health and host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January guys everywhere make the same resolutions.

Get stronger, work harder, fix, what's broken? But what if the real work isn't physical at all? To kick off the new year, I sat down with Dr. Steve Polter, a psychologist with over 30 years experience helping men unpack shame, anxiety, and emotional pain they were never taught to name. In a powerful two-part conversation, we discuss why men aren't emotionally bulletproof,

why shame hides in plain sight, and how real strength comes from listening to yourself and to others. Guys who are toxic, they're immature, or they've got something they just haven't resolved. Once that gets resolved, then there comes empathy, as in compassion.

If you want this to be the year, you stop powering through pain and start understanding what's underneath, listen to the mailroom on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. But man, it's cool having like a cool

guy in New England. You know what I mean? Dayton, Cardi B, you know, like all the off the... Not just dating, just had a kid with Cardi B as well. Just had a kid with Cardi B. but like also, you know, he's a cool... It's just, it's like, it's like, it's,

cool to have that, I feel. Especially in the NFL world, I mean, as an NFL player, it's like, what's the other profession you want to do? It's not like, oh, NBA player or golfer. It's like, yo, I want to be a rapper or singer. Yeah. Like, that's how you view it as, like, what you're playing in the NFL. And, like, he's dating one of the, you know, most famously known rappers, uh, woman rappers of all time and Cardi B, you know, so like, that's cool. Like, that's swaggy in ways. Like, it's cool feeling to have a teammate like that in the locker room. I bet you guys play ball better when they see Cardi.

They're like, shit, I listen to all her songs. I got a ball. I got a ball, you know? He's definitely got some street credit in the locker room for sure. How many guys you think are going up to him say, hey, Cardi B. Gunny girls, got any girlfriends for me? There's probably a lot of guys. I mean, yeah.

They want to be in that click. Especially the young bucks. Young bucks. Yeah. Young bucks. Young bucks are. Yo, let me, let me give some scraps.

Let me give some Cardi to B scraps. Oh, is that too much? No, I mean, leftovers. Leftovers. I mean, that's what everyone said to me back in the day.

Yo, I, yo, like my friends, oh, let me just get some leftovers, Rob. I'm like, I'm like,

what does that even mean? They said it to me. I never said that. I'd be like, leftovers. Like, for Thanksgiving? Kind of.

It's kind of like Thanksgiving. But Stefan Diggs, he likes Joshi McDaniels. Have you ever met him recently? Training camp, right? Training camp. We talked over the offense a little bit. He was cool. Seemed hungry for information. You know, he seemed to be in a good spot mentally. He seemed to be excited to go to work. That was like the cool shit that I came, that crossed me when I met him. did throw the ball to me. I forgot. You did? Yeah, I was walking out doing Fox show. Yeah. And I was like on air and he like threw the ball to me. And I did you catch it? Got it. You caught it? Caught it. Oh, your hands are still reliable.

I'm looking at that pinky finger right now on your right arm and it looks kind of damage and bent and it's more. The finger is fine. It's the shoulders. Like, oh, your shoulder. My left shoulder. Really? Because that's catching is the shoulder strength. You know what if you think about it? That's that. It's shoulder strength? I feel, I think it's hand and shoulder. Oh, okay. I was going to say that.

Hand and shoulder. It's all connected. Well, I think that is when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you, when you're, you know, I don't know. And it's when those are weak, it's always, like, you can always tell who has a bum shoulder on sometimes how guys catch balls. If they go like this, it's because they don't want to put their weak shoulder. If it's hurt on top, you know, I don't know. Catching Clinic by Jules. No.

Coming to you. Cutching Clinic 101 by the Edelnut. And on top of the ACL coming back, he's also been playing with a broken finger the last few weeks. I mean, you got to have a different mentality to be a wide receiver. I mean, yeah, you know, as a lineman broken finger, you just cast it up. But like you got to use that finger.

And him going out there with the broken finger and still making all the catches and plays, I mean, that's mental toughness right there. And that's what Vrable talked about, you know. They got to be a mental tough team. And, uh, what is, you know, so. But now, but here we go. But now we got some facts what Drake May said on digs playing, you know, through his injuries that Steph's probably dramatic.

Every time he gets hit, he lies on the ground. It acts like he just got hit by an 18 wheeler or something. In a jokingly. You got to love that. That's the connection that you want to see between a quarterback and wide receiver where you can just throw digs. Get it? Diggs.

Yeah. other players on your team. It kind of builds that connection and chemistry even more. Who are the most dramatic guys in our locker room? I would say Martellus Bennett, maybe. I would say Niko. Yeah, oh, Niko. Niko.

No, Marty B. at beginning of practices, though. Remember, like, yeah, individual drill? Ah! Yeah, I'm like, he's out for a year. Yeah, playing in the game, goes in the locker room, goes to get some treatment. I'm like, this guy's a genius. I got to take some notes. Like, that's how you get off practice that day.

Oh, my knee. Josh McDaniels was at first always fell for it. And then like week eight, he's like, all right, just go. You don't want to be out here. Just go get some treatment. But then with ball on the game. Yeah. Nico though, Nico was so dramatic.

Oh, my God. I remember one time that his life is dramatic. He took too much, I know, explode at his eye. And this was like, his eye was twitching. And he looks, he's like, I think I'm having a stroke. I'm thinking I'm having a stroke. I'm like, bro, you ain't. Bruceky, you haven't know stroke.

And he's like, no, I'm having a stroke. And there's another time, there's another time he came off the field. My ACL's gone. Jim, it's gone. It's gone. Jim looks at he goes, no, it's there. It's there. Nico goes, no, I swear, try it one more time.

He's like, no, Nico, you're good. He goes, oh, I thought it was gone, man. It reminded me last time. That guy was like WebMD all the time, on WebMD all the time looking at shit. Like, man. I can't get into some of the stories. Oh. I know.

You can't. I know what you're talking about. You can't? I know the web one. Oh, my. Yeah. He's dramatic. He's more dramatic than dramatic.

All right. Let's get on to what kind of dude Stefan Diggs is in the locker room. All right. Is he a stud? Is he a freak? Is he a dog? Is he a whiz? Or is he a dude's dude?

I mean, I mean, Jules, come on now. I think this one's pretty easy. He brings, you know, some studly factors to the table because of his athleticism and his quickness. And his football IQ, you got to be a smart football player in order, you know, to be able to ball and have, you know, the lead the league and receptions in yards. We know our guys are freak off the field. Yeah, freak off the field. No doubt about that. Hey, no doubt.

You got to be a freak if you're dating Cardi B. I mean, you listen to her songs. Damn. Like, we're allowed to say that because her songs. Oh. They are crazy. Make you freaky. Just listen to them.

He's got a little whiz, but I think it's easy. It is easy. I mean, we're going to stamp it right now. One, two, three. Dog. Because the segment is presented by dude wipes, what was Stefan Diggs? Cleanest moment?

Well, his cleanest moment is also kind of his most dogly moment as well. They kind of go together. And I'm going to say it's a Minneapolis miracle. Oh, wow. When they were facing the Saints in the playoffs, like what was it? no time left on the clock and who threw it up to him. Kirk Cousins?

Was it Kirk Cousins? No, it was Case Keenum. Case Keenom. But where was Kirk Cousins? Was he injured that year? I thought he was on Minneapolis this year. I think he got hurt that year. Or was he still on the,

was he still on Washington? Washington. Wow, this is a throwback because this was 2018. So this was the 2018 NFC division round and he made that clean catch. He jumped up in the air, high pointing it. He came down nice and clean.

like the dude wipes landed on his feet and then just cleanly ran right into the end zone to what was it the final seconds yeah did the clock run out was it a walkoff was it a walk off it was a walk off it was a walk off he turned a 27 reception catch into a 61 yard TD and it was all it was the first walkoff touchdown and playoff history as well Minnesota won 29 the 24 that game now I remember watch I think we were What time was this? But it was, 2018. We were in the playoffs.

Yeah, we were in the playoffs. And I remember, you know, sometimes before games in the playoffs, you'd go in the equipment room. And they'd have- To get a peek on what's going out with the other games.

Yeah. I think I remember seeing this. Yes. When I went in to go get my, like, socks or something, because sometimes you'd always see the guys in there, see what other games are doing. And they walked off with this.

I was like, holy shit. Yes. I mean, that was a clean moment in his career. I would say the cleanest moment that the most moment that defying Stefan Diggs is playing career is definitely the Minneapolis miracle. But like you've got to be a dog to be able to pull that off too. Like the way he kept his balance, he went up high point. His legs were almost cut off, you know, cut off from underneath when he was up in the air.

They kind of were. But he stumble bummed it like you just said, put his hand down, kind of retained him and then ran into the end zone nice and cleanly. So this dude's a dog. And then on top of it, just had a baby with Cardi B. And like the baby Thursday night football game was born. And he's tossing

footballs to cheerleaders. You gotta be a dog. You gotta be a dog. You gotta be a dog to do that. Love Stefan Dix. Love it. Electric as can be. Every Lenovo is built to let them go. Let them work and rework. Let them animate. A dinosaur. No, a toaster. No, a hamster and a jetback.

Fun! Let them put golden wings on a dog. Good boy. Let them color correct. Anywhere and everywhere. Let them make. Powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, Lenovo gives creatives everything they need. Lenovo.com Let creatives create.

Lenovo. Hello, hello, all my people. What's up? It's Questlove. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with the one and only ASAP Rocky. He reflects on his journey from Harlem. roots to global icon status and discovering the hip-hop origin of his name. The ledge was on the TV.

Raq Kim had the bucket hat can go join on. My post, like, that's Raq Kim. That's who you named after. I just, damn, that fucking I swear. But listen to the Questlove show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we've got some incredible guests, like Kumail Nanjiani. Let's start with your cat.

How is she? She is not with us. Okay, great, great, great, great way to start. Maybe you will cry. Ross Matthews. You know what kids always say to me? Are you a boy or girl? Oh my God.

All the time. I know. So I try to butcher it up for kids so they're not confused. Yeah, but you're butching it up is basically like Doris Day. Right? No, I turn into Be Arthur. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken? But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the Valley of Despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward. Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to the mailroom on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.