Quandre Diggs drops a message about why Seahawks lost their identity

Maybe it was just a matter of time before the greatness of the Seattle Seahawks in the mid-2010s began to fade. Sure, the New England Patriots were able to remain relevant well beyond a normal sell-by date. Most great teams burn out after 5-8 years and even that number of seasons is a strong run. But for several reasons, Seattle simply could not stay as good as they had been.

Seattle kept making the playoffs into the late 2010s, but the team did not seem as dangerous as they once were. They were still good, but not Super Bowl-worthy. Part of this was because the team just didn't scare opponents as they did when they had players such as Kam Chancellor and a young Richard Sherman. But part of the identity Seattle had in the early 2010s was offensive as well; Marshawn Lynch knew how to set a tone.

After Lynch began to diminish some, the Seahawks did not have someone on the offense who could take his place in terms of physicality and mental toughness. Thomas Rawls was decent in spurts, but he certainly was not Lynch. But Chris Carson might have been.

Quandre Diggs shares a strong thought about the Seattle Seahawks losing their identity

The issue for Carson is that his career was, unfortunately, cut short because of a neck injury after only four-plus seasons. He was twice a 1,000-yard rusher. But more than simply being productive, he did not mind contact and sometimes seemed to intentionally cause it by running at defenders. He might not have had Lynch's raw skills, but he was close to Lynch's aggressive mindset.

Safety Quandre Diggs is a free agent currently, but he played for the Seahawks from 2019 through 2023 (and who knows?; maybe he will return again) and three of those seasons overlapped with Carson. Diggs got an up-close look at what Carson meant to the offense, but, more importantly, what the running back meant for the team's identity.

Seattle still hasn't replaced what Carson brought as far as playing with no fear. Kenneth Walker III is a good back but with a completely different style than Carson. Maybe Zach Charbonnet can be more like Carson (and, therefore, Marshawn Lynch), but he hasn't proven that yet. Without Carson's toughness, Seattle became more of a finesse team and that was never how Pete Carroll meant to design the team.

Maybe one reason Seattle has missed the playoffs in two of the last three seasons after missing the postseason only once between 2010 and 2020 is that the team lost its identity. Diggs implied that as much in a recent post on Twitter/X. While praising Carson, he also gave an insight into how the Seahawks may have seen themselves when Diggs tweeted, "When we lost CC we lost part of our team identity to keep it real."

Hopefully, under new head coach Mike Macdonald, Seattle can do a re-set and bring back an alpha mentality. 12s would love that. So would Quandre Diggs.

Read more from 12th Man Rising