As Diggs awaits debut with Texans, star receiver delights in being named a team captain

AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON (AP) — Stefon Diggs doesn’t really set personal goals before each season, instead preferring to focus on the team.

But this season, his first with the Houston Texans after a trade from Buffalo, there was one individual honor he had in his sights.

The 10-year pro desperately wanted to be a captain on his new team.

“It was a personal goal, but it was so personal that I didn’t really share it with too many people,” he said Thursday. “It was just something that I feel like I had to work for, I had to earn. Something I wanted for myself.”

This week Diggs got his wish when his teammates named him one of seven captains for the season. He explained how much it meant to him for his fellow Texans to vote him into that role.

“Everything, at this point in my career,” he said.

Diggs, who was also a captain in Buffalo, said this meant so much because it showed that he’d earned the respect of his teammates. Coach DeMeco Ryans said the star receiver received the honor because of his hard work and willingness to embrace a leadership role with the Texans.

“That’s a special moment and it shows the type of man that he is, the type of leader that he is and the impact that he’ll have on our team throughout this year,” Ryans said.

Diggs and fellow offseason acquisition running back Joe Mixon are expected to take Houston’s already strong offense, led by quarterback C.J. Stroud, to the next level. Fans will get their first look at the beefed-up offense Sunday when the Texans open the season at Indianapolis.

And Diggs is counting down the days until his debut with Houston.

“’I’m excited,” he said. “I’ve been waiting … this is exactly what I work for.”

Diggs is a four-time Pro Bowler who was an All-Pro in 2020. He has had at least 1,000 yards receiving in each of the past six years and finished with 1,183 yards receiving last season. The 30-year-old has had 100-plus catches in the last four seasons, highlighted by his stellar 2020 campaign when he led the league with 127 receptions and 1,535 yards — both career highs.

Ryans is confident that Diggs and Mixon will fit seamlessly into Houston’s offense and knows everyone is waiting anxiously for their first game with the team.

“They’ve done a great job of working really well together … so, I’m excited for everyone else to see what our guys will look like this year,” Ryans said.

Stroud, last season’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, agreed.

“Both of those guys have done a great job of buying in the system and growing in the system and they’re going to do great things,” he said.

And since Diggs has already achieved his one personal goal, his focus moving forward will be all about the team. He expects to help take the Texans to a new level this season after Stroud and Ryans vaulted them from worst to first in the AFC South and to a playoff win last season.

“Everybody knows what I came here to do and what I’m trying to do is win,” Diggs said. “So, everything that entails week to week, that will always change. You know, if I’ve got to run a million routes, if I’ve got to block a million times, it’s whatever that week calls for.”

And he refuses to look back at where he’s been or dwell on some of the negativity that has swirled around his exit from Buffalo after four seasons there.

“I’m just happy to be where I am,” he said. “I can’t say it enough.”

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