Mr Stefon Diggs, the star wide receiver for NFL’s Buffalo Bills, purchased a new home in Maryland a little over a year ago. From the moment he got the keys, the interior design fanatic has been obsessed with creating a space worthy of an Architectural Digest cover.

Diggs has been involved in every step of the process. Each room has been given a unique identity for each of his unique moods, like his quiet study for reading and his “creative” room, filled with art and colour for when he’s in that headspace. To achieve this effect, he spent countless hours on YouTube studying other homes and how to lay out furniture, and even more time speaking to interior designers. Other than working with someone to acquire vintage furniture, Diggs has taken on almost every task himself, collecting art and learning feng shui to make sure his home is truly his.

He was deep into sofa research, marvelling over a Missoni and Roche Bobois Mah Jong piece when Diggs realised he was being watched. “I was like, ‘Damn, that’s a nice couch, I wonder how many more are out there?’” he says, adding with a smile: “And obviously my phone is hacked by the government, because couches start popping up everywhere on it.”

Diggs was caught in an ensuing internet shopping spiral when he discovered a vintage couch similar to the Mah Jong. Point to the algorithm overlords: he had to have it. So long, $30,000.

“My [financial advisor] really gets on my ass,” Diggs says. “But I’m like, listen, I need this. And I won’t rest until my house is exactly how I want it.”

This is how Diggs’s mind works. He is obsessive about his passions, from American football – a sport he’s dominated despite being overlooked in the NFL draft – to design, fashion and even pottery.

The football field only showcases a small slice of what makes up Diggs as a person. The raw emotion with which he plays a violent, unforgiving sport gives way to a much more calm, collected and creative empath outside of the game. He hopes his outside pursuits will give fans a better picture of who he is as a human.

Within the game, Diggs has often been portrayed as a malcontent or even a diva – thanks to charged moments that happen while the clock is ticking. A charged sideline interaction in the midst of a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals during 2023 playoffs, for example, caught Diggs yelling at his quarterback Mr Josh Allen. The Bills lost despite being a home favourite. But these brief moments are just that – brief – and belie the man at large.

Fashion has always been an important part of Diggs’s self-expression and he reminisces about switching out the laces on his sneakers to stand out at the private (and uniform-requiring) high school he attended in Maryland. To wit, this month, he’s launching a fashion line, Liem Homme, which Diggs has overseen from start to finish. He sketches designs on his iPad and sourced the atelier in Los Angeles.

“I don’t really allow people to know me,” Diggs says. “I try to emotionally detach myself from work. I feel like this [Liem Homme] will help me with connecting with people on a deeper level. People will see you for 60 minutes, or whatever time in a game, and judge you. It’s fair, it comes with the job, and I respect it. I want people to meet me where I am. Football, as I’ve travelled the world, is small compared to a lot of things.”

Diggs is committed to engineering his own style and, unlike many celebrity players, he doesn’t work with a stylist for the all-important tunnel walks. “For me, it’s not that hard,” he says. “I make it a point to look nice on a consistent basis. I tell everybody if you see me in the tunnel or you see me at the gas station, I’ll have some halfway decent clothes on. If you get fly every day, it’s just another day.”

Diggs tries to find vintage pieces that match his style. And in a rare break from modern celebrity, he enjoys repeating outfits or certain pieces, pointing out that if you’re proud of your style, you should buy clothes you actually want to wear more than once. (He even advises his younger teammates to invest in few quality pieces they can wear multiple times instead of chasing seasonal trends.)

“Why buy 10 shirts when you can buy three very quality shirts and just wear them consistently because they’re great?” Diggs says, echoing some very forward-thinking sustainable messaging.

He wasn’t always so in control of his own destiny. In the 2015 NFL Draft, 145 players were selected before Diggs; 19 receivers were taken before him. He signed a contract worth nearly 10 times less than that year’s number one overall pick. And yet he leads his draft class in receiving yards, even though he wasn’t even a full-time starter until a few games into his rookie season for the Minnesota Vikings.

(Those professional challenges came after some personal ones: Diggs lost his father in 2008, when he was only 14 years old, thrusting him into the position of trying to help raise his younger siblings. When he attended college at Maryland – in part to stay close to his family – injuries threatened to derail his professional prospects.)

Diggs persevered through all the turmoil. And his individual success grew. In each of his past six seasons, he’s recorded at least 1,000 receiving yards, the benchmark of success for the best players at his position.

“I remind myself of where I was,” Diggs says of how he stays motivated. “Remember where you were. Remember how hungry you were. This game only respects gratitude, grace and people who put the time in. My love for it has never wavered. That’s why I play with so much intensity and passion. In my mind, it could be my last game.

“Also, my dad started me playing football when I was five years old. He never got to see me play in the NFL. And hopefully I’m making him proud. When somebody starts you in something, make sure you finish it.”

When it comes to football, Diggs and the Bills have come extraordinarily close to “finishing it”, making the playoffs all four years he’s been with the team. Three out of those four years, their season ended at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Yes, those Chiefs. Heroes to some, obstacle for Diggs.

“Starving,” Diggs responds when asked how hungry he is to beat Kansas City. “It’s like a well that won’t give you water. You’re trying to get the water, you’re working your hardest to get the water, but it’s just not materialising.”

Football is the kind of sport that can drive a fan, let alone a player, absolutely crazy if you fixate on the losses. The margins between winning and losing are incredibly thin. And as complicated as the sport can be, success can also come down to the smallest of details, such as the bounce of a fumble, or which direction a quarterback turns his head first in the two seconds he has to throw the ball.

Every season puts Diggs through an emotional rollercoaster. And as someone who doesn’t like to live in the space of being sad, he has to find ways to decompress during his time off. Watching the game as a fan helps. So does designing, whether it's his home or his clothes. His latest endeavour is pottery, which adds a layer of serenity to a creative outlet.

“I’m learning how to work the wheel. I’m really excited to go home and play with some more clay,” Diggs says. So far, he hasn’t made much to show off outside of an ashtray. And while he’s hoping to eventually mould some items that can go in his home, the process is as important as the result.

“For me, it’s a moment of peace and gratitude. It makes you chill. It requires a level of detail and attention. It’s not just a hobby, it’s something that brings me peace. And if you’re a lover of everything creative, fashion isn’t where it stops. If I have a moment to express myself creatively, why not take advantage?”

Diggs certainly seems to have found an ideal balance between his day job and his hobbies. He can’t wait to heal properly from the NFL season and resume training. He’s only a few yards away from 10,000, a massive achievement for any receiver, but especially one who was drafted as far down as he was.

Professional success is opening doors for Diggs. He’s made it a point to allow himself to explore the world around him, especially as he’s seen so many athletes struggle to find a love outside of the game that’s consumed their lives.

“Sometimes I take a step back and I really appreciate where I am,” Diggs says. “Because of how hard I worked for my dream, it’s given me the ability to do things I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. When I do have that leisure time, I try to open my mind to new things, because you never know where they’ll take you.”

That openness has taken Diggs to so many places already, say, the front row of fashion shows and being photographed in the middle of the busy New York City street while engulfed in a massive fur coat.

“No way,” Diggs says when asked if he thought any of this – designing a fashion line, crafting every inch of a house, having a platform to reach people – was possible when he was drafted nearly nine years ago. “I always told myself when I was younger that I was going to keep the main thing my main thing until I was secure in my future. It took a couple years before I even started thinking of other things.

“Football is still everything to me. And in certain rooms, it’s great. In other rooms, they don’t think too much of football.”

Even in those spaces not traditionally reserved for receivers, whether it’s a few feet from the runway, at a party with top designers or in the pottery studio, Diggs has made his presence felt.

Or as he likes to say, “I’m still in those same rooms.”