The Patriots have brought in another receiving option for second-year quarterback Drake Maye. 

Stefon Diggs inked a three-year, $69 million deal with the Patriots, which included $26 million in guaranteed money, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Tuesday night. 

The wide receiver had been one of the top free agents still left on the open market and came after Diggs visited with New England last week in Foxborough, Mass. 

Stefon Diggs is joining the Patriots. Getty Images

Diggs is coming off a season with the Texans that ended after suffering an ACL tear in an Oct. 27 game against the Colts. 

Part of Diggs’ visit last week was focused on his ACL surgery recovery, and ESPN reported on Monday that the 31-year-old receiver is ahead of schedule, already running at full speed. 

The outlet also reported that he was becoming more comfortable with cutting and changing direction. 

Still, his recovery timetable remains unknown and the expectation is that he would not be ready by the time training camp opens in the summer. 

Houston Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs (1) turns upfield after a pass reception in the flat during the football game between the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans on October 27, 2024 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Diggs brings 10 years of NFL experience to the Patriots and gives Maye, the third pick in the 2024 draft, a receiving option that recorded six consecutive 1,000-plus yard seasons before that streak ended in 2024. 

Dating back to 2020, Diggs has 5,868 receiving yards, which ranks sixth in the NFL, and 40 touchdowns, which ranks seventh. 

Prior to the injury, Diggs was a favorite receiver for Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud while pulling in 47 catches for 496 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

Stefon Diggs warms up before an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Oct. 13, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. AP

Diggs played last season in Houston after being acquired in a trade with the Bills, with whom he spent four seasons. 

The wide receiver is one of the premier players in the NFL, but that has also come with a reputation for being temperamental that led to trades out of his previous stops in Minnesota — the team that drafted him in 2015 — and Buffalo. 

Stroud pushed back on that last year, saying that Diggs has gotten a “bad rap just by the media and by people.”