We’ll see if Seahawks will actually use Quandre Diggs

The Seahawks added Quandre Diggs before the trade deadline. Considering the state of their defense, I hope they decide to actually use him.

The Seahawks defense isn’t very good right now. In fact, it’s the worst it’s been since Pete Carroll’s first season in Seattle. I believe that most of the blame goes to their insistence on staying in their base 4-3 defense to an inordinate degree. Teams are passing nearly twice as often versus the Hawks as they are running, yet we still see three linebackers on the majority of plays. Supposedly, Quandre Diggs was brought to Seattle because he can play safety and nickel. I really hope this is true.

To be specific, through the first nine games of the season Seahawks opponents are averaging 22 run plays and 40 pass plays. The Hawks third linebacker, Mychal Kendricks, has been in for 74 percent of all defensive snaps. Seattle uses Jamar Taylor for the vast majority of snaps at nickel, and he’s only been on the field for 28 percent of defensive plays. Let me run those numbers by you again. Seattle’s opponents throw the ball 65 percent of the time, yet the defense runs a scheme better designed to stop the run 74 percent of the time.

I’m aware that Kendricks has an interception and has broken up four passes. I’m also aware that he’s allowed a passer rating of 95.7, two touchdowns, and he’s missed 26 percent of his tackles. That last is by far the worst rate on the Seahawks. Taylor is allowing a passer rating of 81.5, has allowed no touchdowns and has missed just one tackle. He’s missed just six percent of his tackles. I’m not suggesting that Taylor is more valuable than Kendricks, but it should be blatantly obvious that he’s far more effective versus the pass.

Which brings me to Diggs. Pete Carroll said that he loves the versatility Diggs brings to Seattle. That includes the fact that Diggs has a lot of experience playing at nickel. In 65 games with the Lions, he has 24 pass defenses and six interceptions. That’s not exactly All-Pro level, but it’s a lot better than a linebacker.

The Seahawks have one thing in their favor in their game against the 8-0 49ers. Their insistence on staying in their 4-3 base defense actually makes some sense for once. San Francisco has the heaviest run-pass ratio of any team in the NFL. They’ve run the ball 303 times against 239 pass plays. They’re running the ball 56 percent of the time. As you no doubt remember, the Hawks led the league in rushing and attempts last year, and “only” ran the ball 53 percent of the time.

Seattle still needs to get the nickel corner in the game more often, but at least against the Niners, their 4-3 base won’t be terribly out of place for the majority of plays. This will give the Hawks the chance to ease Diggs into the game. San Francisco is playing terrific defense, but they are averaging 29 points per game, too. It’s not like they can’t score, so the Hawks have to play good defense, for once. Diggs can help them achieve this, if they’ll only let him.