There are moments worth remembering in the life of a young NFL quarterback. The moment he lifts his jersey next to Roger Goodell on draft night. The moment he throws his first touchdown pass. The moment he leads his team to his first fourth-quarter comeback. And the moment a receiver gets in his face and demands the ball, now.

Drake Maye has had his moments in his one season of the NFL: touchdowns, wins (a few) and a Pro Bowl berth. (Yes, as a replacement for Josh Allen, but still.) One element of the game he’s lacked: a true WR1 as a target. But now that his Patriots have signed Stefon Diggs, that’s about to change.

Diggs arrives in New England holding a three-year, $69 million contract, recovering from an ACL surgery that cost him half of his only season with the Texans last year. He also brings the full wide receiver combo pack: phenomenal talent, massive ego, throw-me-the-damn-ball attitude. The question for the Patriots: How much of each will he display in New England?

Here’s the simple truth: New England hasn’t had a reliable receiver in half a decade. No Patriot has totaled more than 1,000 yards in a season, or averaged more than 60 yards a game, since Julian Edelman in 2019. The team’s top receiver last year was tight end Hunter Henry, who totaled 674 yards receiving and averaged just over 42 yards a game. It’s no wonder, then, that the team went 4-13 for the second year in a row … and the team has had trouble attracting marquee free agents for that exact reason.

Diggs, meanwhile, surpassed 1,000 yards every season from 2018 to 2023 for both the Vikings and the Bills. He left Buffalo via trade last year, ending up in Houston with C.J. Stroud. He was roughly on pace to add another 1K year, totaling 496 yards through eight games, before suffering a season-ending non-contact ACL injury against Indianapolis that sidelined him for the rest of the year.

In Houston, Stefon Diggs was not WR1. He will be in New England. (AP Photo)

In other words, Diggs has been one of the game’s best receivers since 2018. That’s a simple fact. Also a fact: two separate teams have traded Diggs away in the ostensible prime of his career. There is, to put it euphemistically, a reason for that.

So here’s what we have now. A team desperately looking for an offensive identity. A former WR1 looking to continue his march toward the Hall of Fame. They’re together now in Foxboro. And … it might just work out?

First, Maye. A young quarterback is only as good as his receivers, and with all due respect to Demario Davis, Kayshon Boutte and the rest of New England’s receiving corps, Maye didn’t exactly have a lot to work with last season. Tom Brady could perhaps have turned this collection of who-are-these-guys into a reliable arsenal, but Brady’s been gone from New England for a long time now.

Maye has the potential to ascend to another level, but to do that, he’ll need to prove he can run a huddle and a locker room. And what better way to do that than to meet the challenge of a wide receiver who was posting 1,000-yard seasons while Maye was still a Charlotte high schooler?

Which brings us to Diggs. He’s on the wrong side of 30 for a receiver — he’ll turn 32 two days after Thanksgiving — and he knows he’s closer to the end of his career than the beginning. He’s estimated that he needs about 3,500 yards to reach 14,000 for a career, which he considers Hall of Fame-caliber territory.

He won’t get there by being a secondary option, which he was in Houston behind Nico Collins. Fortunately, he’s in one of the few places in the league where he hits that sweet spot — WR1 at his stage of his career + viable quarterback — and so it’s in his best interests to make this work.

As for the locker room or attitude concerns, well — the Patriots are now Mike Vrabel’s show, and Vrabel won’t hesitate to drop the hammer on anyone straying outside the party lines. Diggs can bring healthy attitude and professionalism to a franchise in desperate need of both.

This is a risk for everyone involved — Maye, Diggs, the Patriots franchise. But it’s a risk all sides need to take, and one that could return New England from afterthought to, at a minimum, respectability. It’s a start.