Entering Seventh Season, Seahawks' Quandre Diggs Expecting 'Best Year Yet'

RENTON, WA - Calling Quandre Diggs' first full season as a member of the Seattle Seahawks a roaring success would be an understatement.

Proving a stellar five-game audition after being acquired from the Lions before the trade deadline one year earlier wasn't a fluke, Diggs provided the Seahawks with an invaluable security blanket manning centerfield in coach Pete Carroll's Cover 3-heavy scheme. Starting all 16 games, he finished the season as one of only four safeties with at least 50 tackles and five interceptions, earning the first Pro Bowl nod of his career after being named an alternate two years earlier.

Still, despite posting an impressive stat line with 64 tackles, five interceptions, and a career-best 10 passes defensed, Diggs still isn't getting the national attention he deserves as one of the most overlooked talents at his position. As just one example, the former Texas standout somehow was omitted from Pro Football Focus' annual rankings as one of the top 32 safeties in the game.

What's behind Diggs being such a criminally underrated player? From his own perspective, he believes spending his first five-plus seasons in Detroit didn't help his cause and blamed the media for playing favorites rather than actually watching film and understanding how to evaluate players.

"I think when the media gets behind certain guys, they start telling these - I wouldn't say lies - but start feeding this crap about guys being playmakers, guys doing this," Diggs said following Tuesday's minicamp practice. "When you get the media backing [you] and I've been in Detroit, so of course I wasn't going to get hella media out there. I come to a great team out here and I have some success and I become a Pro Bowler and my companion to the next side of me is an All-Pro [Jamal Adams] and of course, he's going to get the attention. He's a superstar and I'm fine with that. Me and him, our relationship is super tight."

"But if you get the media backing behind you, you can go out there and miss tackles and you can go out there and give up deep balls and they're still going to qualify you as one of the better safeties in the league."

In terms of consistency, few safeties have been better than Diggs since the start of 2018, which was coincidentally his first full season playing the position. Prior to that point, he had played nickel cornerback for the Lions in his first three seasons.

During that three-year span, Diggs has averaged 61 tackles, seven passes defensed, and nearly four interceptions per season. He's one of only five safeties to pick off at least 11 passes in that time period and did so while playing in just 42 total games. The other four safeties on this exclusive list played at least 47 games apiece.

Referencing those numbers during his press conference on Tuesday, Diggs doesn't need to be included on media rankings to know his worth and where he stands in comparison to other NFL safeties.

"All I know is that I go out, nobody runs the alley like me, nobody goes and creates turnovers like I do... I think I'm doing pretty well on my end," Diggs declared. "I don't hate on guys, but I watch everybody's favorite players around the league and I know who's the better safeties in the league."

Since being selected 200th overall in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, Diggs has come a long way. He wasn't supposed to make it to a second contract, let alone six-plus seasons. He wasn't supposed to be a Pro Bowler. He wasn't supposed to become a starting safety in the NFL, especially in Seattle where the "Legion of Boom" secondary once roamed.

But Diggs has defied expectations from the outset, evolving from a core special teams player and situational slot cornerback early in his career with the Lions into a top-10 caliber safety for the Seahawks. Now entering his seventh season, he's one of only five players who was picked during that round who remains active in the NFL, a tribute to his talent and work ethic.

Understanding most players don't last long in a league with an average career length under four seasons, Diggs expressed his gratitude for making it to a seventh season, which he views as quite the career milestone being a former day three draft pick. But while he's grateful for all he's been able to accomplish to this point, he's far from done and as he approaches free agency next March, he believes his best football still remains in front of him.

"It's an accomplishment and I'm blessed, but I want even more. For me I think, I want to work and I want to be the best player I can be. Going into year seven, I'm in my prime, so I just want to be the best player I can be and for this to be my best year yet."

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