Quandre Diggs came back to post-Russell Wilson-Bobby Wagner Seahawks. He trusts no rebuild
There have been offseasons when the Seahawks have been more attractive than they are right now.
Almost every offseason the last dozen years, in fact. Because trading Russell Wilson then cutting Bobby Wagner on the same day aren’t exactly glamorous moves that scream to the rest of the NFL: Come here! It’s great!
After those franchise- and league-shaking decisions this month, it’s not hard to see how Seattle may no longer be the alluring NFL player destination it was even a month ago. And despite the public pronouncements by coach Pete Carroll his team is not rebuilding, it’s also not hard to call what the Seahawks are doing exactly that.
Or do you not call going from Russell Wilson to Drew Lock a start-over?
Yet two-time Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs just signed back with the Seahawks, for $40 million the next three years.
“A huge deal to be a great leader in our program,” Carroll said. “He’s a magnificent player, back-to-back Pro Bowls and all of that kind of stuff.”
One of the most accomplished players in the league at his position the last five years, Diggs could have signed with what he said were more than a dozen other teams.
“I found that I was very highly thought of from other teams,” he said of free agency this month, “and we had a lot of interest. It was maybe like 15 teams we connected with.”
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Yet he chose he chose Seattle, one week after the team traded Wilson to the Broncos and hours later cut Wagner to avoid his $20.35 million salary-cap charge for 2022.
“It’s always tough to see a guy like Russ go. It’s the business at NFL,” Diggs said Wednesday on an online Zoom call from team headquarters in Renton.
“You see Russ and Bobby go and it’s just like, ‘Sheesh, what mode are we in?’”
Diggs, like Carroll, says the Seahawks are not rebuilding.
“Being able to talk to Pete, being able to understand that we’re not in a rebuild mode, we’re trying to get this thing back rolling, build a team differently a little bit,” said Diggs, who is two months into his rehabilitation from surgery to repair a fractured leg and dislocated ankle he got in Seattle’s season finale Jan. 9.
Diggs can’t see a 70-year-old Carroll rebuilding, even if that looks like a lot like what the Seahawks are doing.
“I’ve just got to trust in what I’ve been told and what we’ve talked about,” Diggs said. “I mean, for me it’s just, it’s kind of hard to see Pete want a full rebuild. It’s just the way he’s wired, the way he’s triggered. He’s all about competing and winning every day. That’s always been his deal.
“For me to think that he’s not in it to win it, it would be crazy for me to believe that.
“For me, I’m just trusting in what I’ve been told and I’m going to do my job to make sure it’s not a rebuild and just go out there and make plays and try to help as much as I can.”
So why, again, did he choose the Seahawks a week after they sent Wilson and Wagner away?
“Like I said, sucks to see those guys go. Two big leaders. Two big guys that’s played a critical part of my career. Sucks to see them go,” Diggs said. “But for me, I had to make a decision based on myself, myself and my family. And me and my agent, we thought this was the best decision for us.
“Just being comfortable, people that understand the rehab process that I have to go through and for them to continue to believe in me and trust in me and stand by me through my injury, I think that’s been pretty dope.”
Big void without Wagner
Wagner was the captain of the defense. He was the All-Pro anchor at middle linebacker for the last 10 years. That was in a 4-3 scheme Carroll used from his first Seahawks season of 2010 through this past January.
Diggs is the only NFL player with three interceptions in each of the least five seasons. He has been selected for the first two Pro Bowls of his career the last two seasons, his first full ones with Seattle after his trade from Detroit in October 2019.
But now he has lost his leader, his friend and his scheme all since the end of last season.
Diggs said of Wagner: “one of our best players, and one of my favorite people of all time is gone.
“I think it’s not just going to be one person to fill that void,” Diggs said. “I think it’s going to be everybody that has to fill that void and figure it out.
The 4-3 is going the way of Wagner: out of Seattle’s defense.
Cody Barton, a third-round draft choice by the Seahawks in 2019, is set to take over for Wagner in the middle. He did that for the first time in last season’s finale at Arizona, which Wagner missed with a knee injury.
Carroll promoted line coach Clint Hurtt to replace fired Ken Norton Jr. as defensive coordinator. Hurtt says he will install more 3-4 looks. That is, with 2021 outside linebacker Jordyn Brooks likely inside next two Barton, with variations, outside linebackers as edge pass rushers and new blitzing and disguises flanking them.
Carroll has hired former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai and Minnesota Vikings secondary coach Karl Scott to coach Diggs and fellow Seahawks defensive backs in new, varied coverage schemes.
New coverages
Desai, Scott and Hurtt are poised to implement more single-high, Cover 3 sets for Seattle. That would have Diggs alone back as a sweeper-like safety deep to make plays on long passes. The 2022 Seahawks are poised to use more man-to-man coverage mixed with Carroll’s zone defenses of the last 12 years.
The last two seasons Carroll didn’t trust his revolving series of cornerbacks he’s played. He often didn’t want them to be tight on the line in press coverage throughout one-third of the field, like Richard Sherman and Shaquill Griffin once played for Seattle.
That meant Diggs and $70 million strong safety Jamal Adams were back together in coverage more last season. Those two-high-safety zone looks spread four defensive backs deeper and across quarters of the field. That left the Seahawks’ underneath areas exposed for offenses such as the Vikings, Titans and Rams (twice) in particular to exploit because Seattle lacking a consistent pass rush — to name four of the Seahawks’ 10 losses last season.
“I honestly think that you have to be multiple in the NFL, you know what I mean?” Diggs said. “You’ve got to have some middle-field-open (no safety in the middle) and middle-field-closed (safety in the middle) stuff. It’s not too many teams that are predominantly one way. You’ve got teams like the Patriots and things like that, but it’s not too many teams that’s just going out there and just throwing single-high out there every time or throwing two-high out there.
“I think it’s cool. I think Coach Hurtt is going to do a great job. I think he’s going to do some different things. That’s his job. His job is not to do the same, to do something different and bring a little different flavor to the defense. We’ll see how goes. I’m excited about being around Sean, excited about being around Karl, and just learning and being around the guys as much as I can. I think it’s going to be very dope.
“I think we’ll switch up some more coverages.”
That promise of change — plus the culture Carroll has established with the Seahawks, a vibe that lives on past Wilson and Wagner’s time in Seattle — are why Diggs re-signed.
Re-signed.
Not rebuilding.
“It’s good to be back somewhere where I’m comfortable with lots of people that I know,” Diggs said, “and giving us another opportunity to go back and try to figure this thing out.”
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This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Quandre Diggs came back to post-Russell Wilson-Bobby Wagner Seahawks. He trusts no rebuild."
