Stefon Diggs Speaks Out After Being Released From the Patriots

1 week ago 17

Stefon Diggs Addresses Release From Patriots After One Year

Stefon Diggs is bidding farewell to New England.

After it was confirmed by multiple outlets on March 4 that the New England Patriots had released the wide receiver, Stefon shared a sweet message to the fans who have been by his side.

“THANK YOU for a hell of a year,” the 32-year-old posted to Instagram Stories March 4. “We family forever”

“Until we meet again,” he added, signing off with his jersey number “8.”

Stefon—who pleaded not guilty to felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault charge in February—had signed a three-year contract with the Patriots last offseason for $69 million, according to ESPN. He is being released after playing with the NFL team for one year.

Prior to joining the Patriots, head coach Mike Vrabel shared why he was excited to welcome Stefon to the New England Patriots, given his previous experience with the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills.

“He’s got a play-strength to him that you see that you can play physical,” he told NBC Sports in March 2025. “Route craft, good at the catch point, has been good in the red zone. There’s a play-style to him that I’ve always appreciated and that we want to continue to enhance and make sure that he’s doing things to help us.”

News of Stefon’s release comes after weeks of speculation that he had broken up with rapper Cardi B, with whom he welcomed a baby boy in November.

Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

Breakup rumors continued to swirl when Cardi—who also shares kids Kulture, 7, Wave, 4, and Blossom, 14 months, with estranged husband Offset—left the Super Bowl early, missing part of the game as Stefon and the Patriots ultimately lost to the Seattle Seahawks. The Grammy winner also appeared to have unfollowed Stefon following the big game.

Fans also believed Cardi dissed the football star during a recent stop in San Francisco on her Little Miss Drama tour.

“You can’t be out here playing with a b---h like me,” the 33-year-old told fans at the concert, as seen in a video posted on X March 1. “There’s n---as out here praying for a b---h like me, you hear me?”

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

Cardi went on to say she was “too sexy to be lonely and too grown to be played with” as the audience continued to cheer her on.

“None of them b--ches f--king with me,” she continued, adding, “They ain’t f--king with you, b---h.”

However, Cardi later set the record straight, explaining she was simply reciting the words to the song “Principal” off her album Am I the Drama?.

“Dear blogs, when I perform a song I always introduce the song with a lil razzle dazzle,” she wrote in a post on X March 2. “Not everything is a shot or personal.”

While the current status of Cardi and Stefon’s relationship remains a mystery, keep reading for a look back at their romance.

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images; Adam Glanzman/Getty Images

The Beginning of Their Romance

While fans already knew Cardi B likes those Balenciagas (the ones that look like socks), they began wondering if she also liked Stefon Diggs in October 2024. The rapper and the New England Patriots wide receiver then fueled dating speculation after they were photographed together on Valentine's Day 2025.

Though Cardi hasn't revealed the exact Xs and Os of how she met Stefon, it was more or less her thinking, "Oh he's so handsome, what's his name?"

"I thought he was cute," she said on a September 2025 episode of Today, noting they connected through mutual friends. "I was like, 'Oh, he gotta be mine.'"

XNY/Star Max/GC Images; North Woods / BACKGRID

A Fashionable Night Out

While some would prefer to finesse rumors, the Grammy winner and the athlete weren't afraid to keep people talking when they stepped out for a 2025 Met Gala after-party in May.

Elsa/Getty Images

Confirming Their Relationship

Later that month, Cardi and Stefon confirmed they're a couple while attending an NBA Playoff game between the Celtics and the Knicks in New York.

"It’s tough hiding. It’s tough dating in your 30s, too, but I like him. I love him, today," the "Bodak Yellow" artist told Billboard in September 2025. "I was always scared of dating people [because] I’ve always been in a long relationship since I was like 21."

MEGA / BACKGRID

Vacation Time

Cardi and Stefon seemed to be living their best life while spending Memorial Day weekend on a yacht in Miami, Fla.

Aissaoui Nacer / SplashNews.com

Romantic Getaway

In June 2025, the "Money" star and the football player made some more moves, debuting their relationship on Instagram and then taking a trip to Paris.

TikTok / Cardi B

Luxurious Gifts

But fans began to wonder if Cardi and Stefon had already split after their Instagram post marking their hard launch was deleted in July 2025.

However, the musician assured followers things were Okurrr after she posted a video showcasing the Patek Philippe watch she got from Stefon.

"My boo boo got it for me at London Jewelers," she said in an August 2025 TikTok. "You know, I went to link up with him at London Jewelers and I thought he was buying himself a watch. And [he was] like, 'Surprise, a watch for you!' And [I was like], 'Ahhh! Thank you!'"

DUTCH/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Shutting Down Speculation

Weeks later, there was speculation that Cardi could be growing her family. But when the star—who also shares kids Kulture, Wave and Blossom with ex Offset—was asked about the paternity of her rumored little one, she slammed the question.

"You’re disrespectful. Don’t do that," she told the inquirer in September 2025 while exiting a courthouse in L.A., where she won her viral trial. "Do you see women asking those types of questions to me?...Why do you feel as a man you get to ask me those types of questions? Act like you have some manners. Your mama taught you: Respect women."

CBS News

A Baby on the Way

Later that month, Cardi confirmed she and Stefon are expecting a baby. While the child will be the couple's first together, the bundle of joy marks her fourth and his second overall (He is dad to daughter Nova from a previous relationship).

"Everybody kept telling me I should have fun, and we had a little bit of too fun and now I’m here," Cardi told CBS Mornings in September 2025, adding, "We’re very excited. We’re very happy."

And she had a message for all those who had been spreading pregnancy rumors.

"Now y’all can buy my album so I can buy Pampers and diapers and all that type of stuff," Cardi added, referencing her sophomore release Am I the Drama?. "I told ya. Now go support my album ‘cause I’m a mother of four now."

Vendetta dailly / BACKGRID

Cheering Each Other On

For Cardi, forming a new relationship with Stefon after her divorce from Offset required her to be "open and vulnerable."

"One time he just told me like, ‘Let me heal you,'" she continued on CBS Mornings. "'Give me a chance for me to heal you.'"

And while Stefon plays offense, he's quick to come to Cardi's defense. Like when he supported her ahead of her album release.

"When people just rip it apart, it just hurts you and it crush you," she added. "He’s like, ‘Girl, you better get it together.’ He makes me feel very confident. I feel like feeling safe is feeling confident. Feeling like you can do it, and it makes you feel like you can take over the world."

Of course, the support goes both ways as Cardi noted she's become a football fan.

"I be in the screen on Sunday, every day, cursing people out," she said on a September 2025 episode of Today. "'Pass the ball!'"

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Addressing Allegations

Shortly after Cardi announced her pregnancy, Stefon made headlines over a lawsuit model Aileen Lopera filed in December 2024 in which she accused him of fathering her baby girl born in April 2025, per court documents obtained by People. According to his response obtained by the outlet, Stefon has contested the allegation that he fathered the child and has requested genetic testing to determine paternity.

Cardi then appeared to address the drama on social media.

"Hello, Barbara. This is Shirley," she said in a September 2025, giving a nod to the lyrics of Shirley Brown’s song "Woman to Woman" in which a woman calls up her partner’s mistress. "That’s your baby daddy, b---h? That’s my baby daddy, too. Well what now? I don’t f--king know. We’ll figure it out b---h."