Receiver Stefon Diggs talks to the media on the first day of Patriots training camp in Foxborough. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Stefon Diggs ran out onto the practice field behind Gillette Stadium on Wednesday morning to loud cheers from the stands.

It wasn’t an exact homecoming, because he’s a new New England Patriot. But he was returning to familiar terriory – no limits on a football field.

“I’m super excited, a lot to be excited about, I’m just happy to be playing football,” Diggs said nearly a couple of hours later. “I’m just happy to be playing football. It’s been a long off-season for me, eight months.”

That’s because of a torn ACL took Diggs out of commission with the Houston Texans a third of the way through last season, and that basically made him available to the Patriots as a free agent. Eyebrows were raised when Diggs was not on the team’s PUP list, which meant that in the ballpark of 270 days after the injury, he was back on the field basically without limitations.

“I’m just happy to be football, be around football, I’m going to get back to being me but I wake up me every day,” he said. “I didn’t think about the timeline, I was just taking it day by day, considering everybody’s injury is different. … Everybody said I came back really fast, but it was a different training program. I wanted to get back as fast as I could.”

What should we expect? Diggs drew more cheers with a couple of receptions during the two team sessions that were held. He certainly looked good in other drills. No limits.

“Right now, at this very moment, considering I’m coming off an injury, I’m super excited to be playing football,” he said. “But I have the respect of my teammates and my coaches getting back out here, being a leader that I know I am. That’s all I want to be right now …

“A lot of people want to throw a lot of anticipation out there and getting excited. Can’t get too excited. It’s Day 1. I just want to conquer day 1, get a look at the film, I wasn’t too happy with some thing that I want to get back out there and correct.”

Such as? “It’s a secret,” he said with a grin.

But Diggs knows he’s still not mastered offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ system.

“I’m still grasping it right now,” Diggs said. “A lot of studying I’m doing. I’ve seen a lot of receivers in it have success, we’ve got a lot of weapons right now. I’m still learning the book as of right now, but I’m super excited.”

Diggs said he’s taken “the test” about pushing the knee to its limit to see how it would react, and put the injury behind him.

“I feel like I took the test already,” he said. “I wanted to take the test before I came out here, before everybody else saw me. You can lie to everybody else, you can’t lie to yourself. I took the test when I was away and taken those reps (with Drake Maye and the other receivers in North Carolina). The worst has already happened. I hurt my knee already. I went through that already. As far as taken those mental jumps, I did that during my rehab process. … I didn all the testing out of my head three months ago.”

Diggs dove in head first yesterday, but says he doesn’t want to overreact. But he’s developing a rapport with QB Drake Maye, and the North Carolina sessions helped. “It’s just building,” he said. “You want to get in as much as you can with a quarterback as a receiver. It’s more about trust. … On Day 9 I may have more information for you all, but it’s early.

“Every situation is different. You want to build it brick by brick … I won’t ride the roller coaster, I’m going to trust the process. I’m ready to work.”

“Yeah, anytime an All-Pro and a player like that, he made some plays out here today, it’s awesome being able to throw to a guy like that,” Maye said. “And even when you feel like he’s not open, he’s going to go make a play for you in tight coverage. He’s a strong receiver, going to make plays. And I think we’ve got a bunch of those guys in the room that will earn their role and find their role.

HIGHS AND LOWS

Besides Diggs, second round draft pick receiver Kyle Williams was the talk of the day with a couple of big catches while covered by heralded veteran corner Christian Gonzalez…

The Patriots offensive line didn’t have a great day, although keep in mind there were no pads. Top draft pick Will Campbell was up and down and got beat by Keion White on the edge on one play…

Practice went by fairly quickly. The first two practices can only be 90 minutes long, as mandated by the NFL. Then the next two can go up to 105 minutes, and then by the fifth practice the time can be two hours, but that’s the limit.