Quandre Diggs and Patrick Mahomes Square Off for the First Time Since 2014
You might be asking yourself, "Who is Quandre Diggs?" and that's a perfectly acceptable question. He's a defensive back for the Detroit Lions and a former Texas Longhorn. So why do we care?
Well, Patrick Mahomes and Quandre Diggs will meet each other on the field for the first time since they played each other back in 2014. I'll take you through the beef history before we talk more about the weekend's matchup.
In 2014, Patrick Mahomes was a true freshman who had just taken over for the injured Davis Webb. In his first collegiate career start, the future NFL MVP ran into a bit of trouble when Quandre Diggs met him head on.
After the hit, Mahomes had no idea where he was, but would go on to figure it out. Texas Tech would lose that game, 34-13.
In 2015, Mahomes was in the midst of a breakout campaign, while Charlie Strong and the Longhorns needed a win to keep their bowl hopes alive. Mahomes and teammate Jakeem Grant would handle Texas 48-45 with a last-minute trick play called 'Little People Big World,' knocking the Longhorns out of bowl game contention, much like Diggs knocked Mahomes out the year before.
Diggs wasn't there, though. He had been drafted by the Lions during the offseason, but still found the time to chime in via Twitter in a since-deleted tweet that read: "Mahomes still the same chump I knocked out last year! and he got the nerve to flex? boyyyyy stooooop!"
Now, with the two set to face each other this weekend, Mahomes says the Twitter jabs are all about playful football rivalries, while Diggs is back pedaling as fast as possible and tripping over compliments to Mahomes on his way.
In an ESPN article, Diggs says, "To me, Tom Brady is going to be the best ever for my whole life, that's just how it is, but the way Pat's going, he's going to break every record in NFL history if he keeps this up."
In the same piece, Diggs says Texas-born players have to stick together in the NFL, and that Mahomes is magical in what he does on the field.
Diggs also responded directly to the hit from 2014. "At the end of the day, it was six years ago," he said. "He's the MVP. I'm in my fifth year in the league. It is what it is. We just go out and compete. Me and Pat are good friends, and at the end of the day, it's just football."
"I don’t know if it was an issue, but he just kind of knocked me out," Mahomes said. "He's a great player, Quandre, and I'm actually friends with him now and it's something where in the heat of the moment there might have been an issue, but it's football and we're still guys coming from Texas who love playing the game."
You can listen to Patrick Mahomes square off with Danny Amendola and the Detroit Lions right here on Talk 1340 this Sunday with kickoff scheduled for 12 p.m.