Seahawks S Quandre Diggs Eager to 'Go Back to Work' With Jamal Adams
RENTON, Wash. - Compared to this time a year ago, Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs couldn't ask to be in a better place entering his ninth NFL season and fifth year with the Seattle Seahawks.
In a near-180 degree turn from last spring when he was fully engaged in a rigorous rehab returning from a broken fibula and dislocated ankle, Diggs has been able to enjoy a regular offseason with a normal training regimen. Off the field, he got married and the couple welcomed their second child last month, coming at the ideal time with more free time on his schedule.
Whether throwing shade at linebacker Bobby Wagner or making playful jabs at his daughter, Diggs was all smiles speaking with reporters following Seattle's first mandatory minicamp practice on Tuesday afternoon.
"I'm blessed. I have two kids, boy and girl. Like I say, my daughter, she runs everything. So little man, he ain't getting too much attention from me right now," Diggs joked.
If there's another reason why Diggs could be seen grinning ear to ear on Tuesday, along with Wagner's return after a year with the Rams, the star defender reunited with fellow safety Jamal Adams, who flew out to Seattle after missing OTAs while being entrenched in his own arduous rehab coming back from a torn quad tendon.
When healthy, Diggs and Adams have been one of the most formidable safety tandems in the entire NFL with complementary skill sets and strengths. In their first season together, Diggs earned his first Pro Bowl selection after leading the team with five interceptions, while Adams garnered Second-Team All-Pro honors after breaking the NFL's single-season record with 9.5 sacks as a defensive back.
Continuing a trend of injury woes, Jamal Adams went down in the first half of Seattle's season opening win over Denver and underwent season-ending surgery last September.
© Joe Nicholson, USA TODAY
Unfortunately, while Diggs returned to form and started all 17 games last year rebounding from his broken leg, Adams has struggled with health issues since arriving a trade with the Jets in 2020. Between his latest quad injury, multiple labrum tears, and fractured fingers, he has missed 25 total regular season games in three seasons, including all but one game in 2022.
Forced to spend most of the season away in Texas after undergoing surgery for what general manager John Schneider called a "very bad injury" on May 12, the Seahawks missed Adams' aggressive, physical presence last season. Though they managed to make the playoffs without him, they had to adapt their defensive scheme on the fly without his unique traits and as Diggs acknowledged on Tuesday with his friend back with the team, things just aren't the same without his partner in crime.
"This week is dope because now everybody's here, you know what I mean?" Diggs said. "And everybody's running their own race. I know with Mal and J.B. [Jordyn Brooks] are going through with injuries and rehab and stuff like that. I talk to those guys, and having Mal back, it's been awesome. You guys know our relationship. You know it's different when 33 is out there. Just the energy, a contagious thing that he brings."
Though Diggs can't wait to wreak havoc against opposing offenses with the disruptive Adams back in the fold and a newcomer in Julian Love joining the fun, the veteran safety did provide a cautionary tale from his own experience to help temper expectations a bit for the former LSU star.
By the end of last season, Diggs looked like his pre-injury self, intercepting four passes in the Seahawks last seven regular season games, including picking off Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield in overtime in the season finale to help catapult his team into the postseason. Per Pro Football Focus charting, he wrapped up the year first among qualified safeties in yards allowed, receptions allowed, and completion percentage against.
But as Diggs admitted last fall before a Week 8 home matchup against the Giants, it took time for him to truly trust his surgically repaired leg and he played with hesitancy early in the schedule. He recently acknowledged on his Twitter account that he couldn't even cut until a month before training camp, which put him in a race against the clock to be ready for Week 1.
As a result, Diggs left more tackles on the field than usual, posting a high 15 percent missed tackle rate. According to Pro Football Focus, he also finished tied for second among safeties with four dropped interceptions, an uncharacteristically high number for the typically reliable ball hawk.
Quandre Diggs turned the corner midway through the 2022 season with four picks in Seattle's final seven games, but regaining confidence coming off a broken leg was a lengthy process.
© Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
When asked on Tuesday how long it took to feel like himself again, Diggs said he didn't feel quite right until midway through the season, an unfortunate consequence of a "rushed" offseason without his usual drill work to get ready for the actual season.
"You always want to feel like yourself," Diggs said. "But it definitely was middle to the end of the season where I honestly felt like I can go out and make the plays that I need to make, and I could just trust that ankle that I can put it in the ground and I can just go and explode."
Considering Diggs' own trials and tribulations from a year ago, regardless of whether Adams is ready to return to action at some point in training camp or later, it likely will take time for him to round back into form and make the type of impact he and his teammates expect out of him. That's the reality returning from a severe injury that can be a major challenge to rebound from.
But even if Adams needs several games to get fully back up to speed, Diggs remains confident that he will rediscover his game again and once he finds his groove, the Seahawks will instantly be a far better defense than the one that struggled much of last season. Assuming he stays healthy, his presence as a blitzer should benefit the pass rush immensely, his toughness will immediately bolster a porous run defense, and his ability to cover tight ends and bigger receivers will help the rest of the secondary.
After spending far too much time without his sidekick on the field the past two years, Diggs eagerly awaits the chance for them to make up for lost time and remind the rest of the NFL of what kind of damage they can inflict on opponents as a dynamic duo this upcoming season.
"It's one of those things that I can't wait - he's back out there "playing" playing - it's going to be fun," he said. "I know he has big goals, which he should. And I'm excited to line up next to him and go back to work."
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