Ever since his first interception in the NFL, Trevon Diggs has been a lightning rod for criticism at the cornerback position. Frequently flowing between in-phase and out-of-phase coverage, Diggs isn’t afraid to give up separation, receptions and yardage in his pursuit of game-breaking interceptions.
As a converted collegiate receiver, Diggs has a natural “the ball is mine” mentality and unwavering confidence in his ability to make great plays come from seemingly poor coverage. It’s this style of play that has baffled coaches, analysts, and film nerds alike and it’s this style of play that continues to cast shade on the Cowboys All-Pro CB.
The Athletic recently ran a redraft of the 2020 class. They broke down the class position by position and picked which order the players would be picked today if teams could do things over again. Diggs, drafted eighth in his position group originally, moved up four spots in the redraft to come in fourth amongst his peers.
Jaylon Johnson, A.J. Terrell and L’Jarius Sneed ranked above Diggs in the redraft, fanning the flames of disrespect and once again calling for Diggs to silence doubters across the league.
In all fairness, Johnson, Terrell and Snead are elite CBs in the NFL and deserve every bit of praise they’ve received in their journey. But Diggs is arguably the most talented ballhawk the NFL has seen in years and the benefits gained by his untraditional style of play have far outweighed the costs.
The reason Diggs has so many detractors across the NFL is because the style in which he plays. Where most CBs focus on technique and minimizing separation, Diggs plays things more naturally, willing to fall out-of-phase in coverage because he knows he has an uncanny ability to get back in-phases at a moment’s notice. It’s this that caused traditional grading sources like Pro Football Focus to rework their grading process and this that has caused so many wildly opposing evaluations of his game.
It should be telling, Nick Saban, a certified cornerback guru and unbending taskmaster, nurtured Diggs’ loose playing style during their time together at Alabama. He saw the good outweighed the bad and was willing to live with any negative consequences. In case anyone is wondering, that’s significantly out of character for Saban.
It’s been the same thing in Dallas under Dan Quinn. Quinn saw the potential for game-changing turnovers and was willing to give up yardage along the way if it gave the offense a few extra possessions by way of interceptions.
Coming off an ACL injury suffered in Week 3 of last season, Diggs will have to remind the NFL exactly who he is and what he brings to the table. He only has four total interceptions since his breakout 11-interception season in 2021. He’s playing under a new defensive coordinator in Mike Zimmer and will be in Year 1 of an enormous five-year extension he signed last offseason.
It seems Diggs will have to prove his doubters wrong once again.
