Stefon Diggs and 5 more NFL free agents making teams look silly for passing on them

Never underestimate the power of a good, old-fashioned revenge game. Professional athletes are always looking for any sort of extra motivation they can find, and when they're going up against a team that showed them the door not too long ago, the narrative has already been written for them.

Stefon Diggs delivered a classic of the form on Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills, torching his former club for 146 yards on 10 catches in a huge upset win for the New England Patriots. He looked exactly like the dynamic route-runner who was a perennial Pro Bowler in Buffalo before an ACL tear last season threw his future into doubt — and left him languishing on the free agency market for weeks this past spring.

Sure, Diggs was entering his 30s and coming off of major knee surgery; there was plenty of risk involved for whatever team decided to take the plunge and sign him. But there was also plenty of upside in a guy who was a regular 1,000-yard receiver every year for more than half a decade, and the Pats are enjoying that upside right now. This was Diggs' second straight game with more than 100 receiving yards, as he emerges as the ideal No. 1 wideout to shepherd Drake Maye to stardom. And he's not the only player from the free agent class of 2025 filling the rest of the league with some serious FOMO.

CB Isaiah Rodgers, Minnesota Vikings

I promise this isn't just a case of hindsight being 20/20. Even last season, when he served as CB3 for the Philadelphia Eagles behind James Bradberry and Darius Slay, Rodgers flashed at times as a rangy cover man. The signs were there, and they were enough for the Vikings to give him a shot at a starting gig on a two-year, $15 million deal.

Safe to say Rodgers has taken that opportunity and run with it. The headliner is his performance against the Cincinnati Bengals last month, in which he both returned an interception and a fumble for a touchdown en route to NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. But even beyond the splash plays, Rodgers has shined in Brian Flores' defense, a big part of what's kept Minnesota afloat despite all the dysfunction at quarterback.

QB Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts/QB Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks

Since they're both members of the Kevin O'Connell University Class of 2025, we might as well deal with these two quarterbacks together. Jones has completely flipped the script on his career, going from a deer in headlights who got benched by the New York Giants to a dual-threat dynamo piloting one of the league's best offenses in Indianapolis. He's far more decisive and far more accurate than he ever was in New York, completing over 70% of his passes while averaging a whopping 8.6 yards per attempt, and it's hard to avoid feeling like all he needed was better coaching (and a better supporting cast) to unlock the physical tools that were always there. Credit to the Colts for being the team that took a chance on him, and shame on everybody else for their lack of vision.

Darnold, meanwhile, already had one elite statistical season under his belt when he hit free agency this past offseason. But everybody told themselves that it was simply a product of the Minnesota offensive incubator, and so he fell to the Seattle Seahawks on what amounted to a two-year deal. Flash forward a few months, and he's ... well, basically doing all the stuff he did with the Vikings last year, slinging the ball all over the field and unlocking an All-Pro season from No. 1 target Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Let this be an object lesson for every other front office around the league. If a guy gets drafted in the top 10, chances are he's probably a pretty talented player. It's up to you to identify what those talents are and get the most out of him; if you don't someone else will.

S Talanoa Hufanga, Denver Broncos

Ability was never the question with Hufanga, who earned first-team All-Pro honors in just his second season in the NFL back in 2022. But the same hair-on-fire style that made him such a weapon in the defensive backfield also led to quite the injury risk, and he played just 17 games across the next two years.

That did a number on his market as he entered free agency, and eventually it was the Broncos who were willing to take the risk on a three-year, $45 million deal with $20 million in guarantees. That sure looks like a bargain now, as Hufanga has already racked up a whopping 35 tackles (21 solo) with three pass breakups and a forced fumble over Denver's first five games, adding yet another weapon to what is yet again one of the most ferocious defenses in the league. Of course, health will remain a question for as long as he plays; when he's on the field, though, his impact is undeniable, and the Broncos are reaping the reward for being the team willing to pay him a more than reasonable salary.

RB Rico Dowdle, Carolina Panthers

It was lost amid a dismal season in Dallas, but Dowdle came on strong down the stretch last season after supplanting Ezekiel Elliott as RB1, showing some surprising explosiveness to go with the between-the-tackles grinding that got him drafted out of South Carolina. Was that more well-rounded game for real, or was it simply the product of increased opportunity that he didn't actually deserve moving forward?

The market clearly thought the latter, as Dowdle had to settle for a one-year, $3 million deal with the Panthers in free agency. On Sunday, though, Dowdle sure made that look silly.

Starting in place of Chuba Hubbard, Dowdle erupted for more than 200 yards rushing in Carolina's win over the Miami Dolphins. Sure, some of that production no doubt has to do with Miami's defense being a downright abomination, but still: This is exactly the sort of guy we saw at the end of last season. And while he'll never be one of the 5-10 best bellcows in the league, he's a really useful player who should've had a bigger market last offseason.