Seahawks' Quandre Diggs Believes 'Both Sides' Want Bobby Wagner Reunion
On the field, Quandre Diggs has evolved from a sixth-round pick into one of the NFL's best ball-hawking safeties roaming the back half of the Seattle Seahawks defense, intercepting at least four passes in each of the past three seasons.
But away from being a beloved Pro Bowl defender and key cog in Seattle's secondary, Diggs also has earned a reputation for his quick-witted social media game, often torching teammates and other players around the league behind the keyboard. This offseason, he's proven he's more than a Twitter burn artist, however, putting on a recruiting cap with the goal of bringing other stars to the Pacific Northwest.
Most notably, Diggs has been engaged in a full court press on All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner, who the Seahawks released last March and will become a free agent officially on Wednesday following one season with the Rams. Hoping to turn his former teammate into a current teammate, he's went wild tweeting everything from jokingly posting old "photoshopped" pictures of him and Wagner playing together to calling out Seattle's social team to announce a deal already.
Diggs hasn't been limited to re-recruiting Wagner either. He also has happily nudged former Seahawk pass rusher Frank Clark, who the Chiefs are expected to release, about a homecoming of his own along with making sure to remind long-time Lions teammate Darius Slay and now ex-Vikings rusher Za'Darius Smith that Seattle would be an excellent landing spot for their talents.
While some may view Diggs' efforts as little more than offseason fodder to fire up fans, the opinionated safety isn't tweeting into the void just for fun. Embracing the culture implemented by coach Pete Carroll with the Seahawks and buying into a bright future for the franchise, he wants to aid the process of building the best team possible with sights on winning championships.
In the case of Wagner, Diggs thinks his messy public exit from Seattle last March is now water under the bridge and that there's legitimate mutual interest in a reunion between the franchise and future Hall of Famer.
"I wouldn't put it out there if there wasn't interest," Diggs said in an interview with the Locked On Seahawks podcast and AllSeahawks.com's Corbin K. Smith. "I think it's interest from both sides. I mean, with Bob, I think the things that happened last year are kind of in the past, and I hope he's just able to kind of rekindle that fire and we will be a match made in heaven for him and we can get that done. Everybody in the locker room would love to have him back."
With starter Jordyn Brooks rehabbing from reconstructive knee surgery after tearing his ACL in December and Cody Barton departing to join the Commanders in free agency, linebacker stands out as one of the Seahawks most pressing immediate needs. Demonstrating he still has plenty of tread left on his tires with a dominant season for the Rams in 2022, Diggs sees no reason why Wagner wouldn't immediately bolster the middle of their defense.
But more importantly, while he will undoubtedly rack up tackles in bunches as he has throughout his entire 11-year career, Wagner's lauded leadership skills and consistency would be a major boon for a young, ascending team. Acknowledging Seattle missed his presence in that regard the most last season, Diggs admitted trying to fill his massive shoes proved challenging for him and other veterans who weren't used to such a role, and his return would take some of that pressure off.
"To be able to have a Hall of Famer, somebody that you can lean on, even for myself, it was a bigger burden for me last year taking on a lot more leadership than I had to do in the years past," Diggs said. "And I think it'd be cool just to be able to spread some of that stuff out and give some of those duties back to Bobby and let him have those things and I just go out and play football."
Since he's not part of the front office and doesn't carry an executive title on his resume, Diggs obviously won't be making key roster choices for the Seahawks this offseason. His main job remains picking off opposing quarterbacks and shutting down seam and post routes in center field while also providing leadership for younger players on the field, not signing Wagner or anyone else.
But as Diggs acknowledged on Monday, Carroll and general manager John Schneider do value giving players a voice on the personnel front and keep lines of communication open. This has allowed him to share his thoughts with them on who he is interested in playing with, including the possibility of reuniting with Wagner, who the Seahawks have engaged in talks with in recent days.
Though Carroll and Schneider may not always use such advice to help inform their decisions, being able to have his voice heard jumps out as one of the many advantages playing in Seattle. After choosing to re-sign with the franchise last March in the aftermath of the Russell Wilson trade and Wagner's release under the belief they weren't entering a rebuild, it's just one of many reasons why he feels more empowered to try and persuade other talented players to join the team.
Time will tell if those efforts bear fruit or not, but until Wagner has made a decision on his next team, expect Diggs to keep firing away on Twitter looking put No. 54 back in blue and green in 2023. As for other talented players seeking new teams, they will remain fair game as well.
"For me, it's easy to recruit and make pitches to come to Seattle," Diggs said. "Now, I can't handle anybody's money. I can't say what John is going to offer you or what those guys are gonna offer. But I can say you would love the culture, you love everything about it. This is one of those places that lets you be who you are, no matter what type of player or person you are, and they let you be you."
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