The Seattle Seahawks have several important decisions to make on which of their own free agents they should re-sign. But Quandre Diggs needs to be near the top. Diggs has been Seattle’s best safety over the last two years combined and will only be 29 years old when the 2022 season begins.
Of course, Diggs will be coming off a very bad injury when he broke his leg in Week 17 against the Arizona Cardinals, While the injury looked even worse, Diggs appears to have not suffered any major ligament damage and his expected recovery time is 4-5 months. This should put him in line to be back at the beginning of the 2022 season.
Diggs is due for a huge pay increase over the next few years. He has been terrific in Seattle for two-plus years and has made two straight Pro Bowls. Diggs had a cap hit of just $3.625 million in 2021 and could make three times that amount in his next contract which would start in 2022.
Seahawks free agents: Three potential landing spots for Quandre Diggs
Some team is going to pay Diggs a lot of money and the safety position is one where some big contracts have been paid over the last two years.
Whatever team signs (or re-signs, Seattle?) Quandre Diggs is getting a player in the prime of his career with several good seasons likely left to play who will also be a leader in the locker room. What more could a team ask for? Here are three teams that should try to sign Diggs this offseason.
New York Jets
Quandre Diggs going to the Jets would be a cruel bit of irony, wouldn’t it? Seattle traded for Jamal Adams before the 2020 season but the best safety on the Seahawks the last two years has probably been Diggs so him choosing to leave Seattle for New York would hurt. There are already predictions this will happen.
In 2021, the Jets were atrocious against the pass. New York ranked 31st in QBR-allowed (103.2), was 26th in passes defended (61) and was 31st in interceptions (7). Part of the issue was that the Jets had a bunch of injuries at safety as Marcus Maye was limited to 6 games and only one safety was able to start double-digit games.
Diggs is expected to be healthy enough to play the majority, if not all, of the 2022 season and he has the talent to help transform the Jets pass defense into a decent unit. In the last two years combined, Jets safeties have 6 interceptions as a group. Diggs has 10 by himself.
What New York has really needed the last two years is a free safety so trading Jamal Adams hurts them less than had New York had Diggs on the roster instead of Adams and the Jets traded Diggs. Diggs would have an immediate positive impact on a Jets locker room that currently has a culture of losing but Diggs would instantly make New York better on the field too.
Philadelphia Eagles
It is still a bit shocking that the Eagles made the playoffs this season. Most pundits had Philadelphia not only finishing last in the NFC East in 2021 but also being one of the worst teams in the league. Then with a rookie head coach and a quarterback who can’t throw well, the Eagles went 9-8 and made the postseason as a Wild Card. Yet, the Eagles are still in rebuilding mode.
Philadelphia could take another step forward in 2022 by being better in pass defense. The Eagles were 23rd in QBR-allowed (95.4) overall. Marcus Epps played in 16 games, started three of them, and was fourth in the team in tackles but was a terrible 117.3 in QBR-allowed. Rodney McLeod started 13 games but allowed 71.4 percent of the passes thrown his way to be completed.
McLeod is a free agent this offseason. If Philadelphia thinks they have any chance of signing Diggs, he would be by far the better player. Philadelphia still has a relatively young team with their average age thrown off by just a few players. The Eagles top three tacklers in 2021 were all 28 years or younger.
Bringing Diggs in makes the defense better overall but provides leadership for a team still learning how to win consistently.
Seattle Seahawks
This is where Quandre Diggs needs to stay for the next three years. Diggs himself recently said that there’s “no question” he would like to remain a member of the Seahawks if he is well compensated. And that is how it should be. NFL players get paid to play a game and this is their chance to make generational money.
Seattle needs to pay Diggs well as he deserves it. In two-and-a-half years with Seattle, Diggs has 13 interceptions and this easily leads the team. He was third on the team in tackles this year and he was fourth in 2020. In both of the full seasons Diggs has played for the Seahawks he has made the Pro Bowl. This year he was voted as a starter at free safety for the Pro Bowl.
For Diggs, he has had his best seasons while with Seattle. He has had career-highs in tackles (2021), interceptions (2020 and 2021), passes defended (2020) and missed-tackles percentage (2020). Plus, Diggs appears to have made strong connections with teammates.
When Diggs broke his leg in the final game of this year, he had to stay behind in Arizona for surgery. Receiver Tyler Lockett stayed with him. This is the kind of culture that Pete Carroll has built in Seattle where the players mostly care about each other and the organization treats the players well. Hopefully Diggs will choose to stay in part because of that and the Seahawks need him to stay because Quandre Diggs helps Seattle win football games.