Wyman: Examining if ‘boom or bust’ Bama CB Diggs works for Seahawks
Apr 16, 2020, 10:32 AM
Could the Seahawks take cornerback Trevon Diggs from Alabama in the first round? (AP)
(AP)
Current Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar and former Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman both spent time in college playing wide receiver. Could Seattle select another corner with that experience with their first pick in next week’s draft?
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One popular player that has been mocked to the Seahawks by multiple analysts is Trevon Diggs, who played corner at Alabama after starting his collegiate career on offense.
While cornerback may not be the most glaring need on the Seahawks’ roster, it wouldn’t be too surprising if they selected one early as Dunbar and Shaquill Griffin are both on the last year of their contracts. Additionally, trading for Dunbar may be a bad sign for 2018 and 2019 starter Tre Flowers, as Dunbar will likely be taking his spot next season. That could mean the organization isn’t sold on Flowers’ future in Seattle.
Diggs is built like the prototypical Seahawks cornerback as he’s 6’2, 205 pounds and has 32 and 3/4-inch arms, meeting Seattle’s requirement of 32-inch arms for their cornerbacks. What could also help Diggs is that he’s got some family ties in the NFL.
“If that name sounds familiar it’s because his brother, Stefon Diggs, is the (Pro Bowl) receiver,” Dave Wyman said during his breakdown of Diggs on 710 ESPN Seattle’s Bob, Dave and Moore.
During his time studying Diggs, Wyman found him to be an intriguing prospect due to in part to his background as a receiver and because he has experience returning kicks. Additionally, he’s dangerous with the ball in his hands, as he had two long defensive touchdowns of over 80 yards last season.
“He did not run at the combine … but he’s a 4.4 guy – 4.46 is the number that I saw,” Wyman said. “He’s pretty lean and long. Here’s how I would describe him: He is a boom or bust player I feel like.”
Wyman saw plays where, if the play was on the other side of the field, Diggs would jog, which Wyman didn’t like. But he also saw Diggs make a lot of plays on defense, and every team could use more playmaking on defense. The issue is Diggs could be too aggressive at times.
“His playmaker mentality works against him,” Wyman said. “… He’s a big-time playmaker and I see him taking a lot of chances like he’s trying to jump things and sometimes it hurts him. And sometimes he’ll try to jam the guy (at the line of scrimmage) and he’ll miss and the guy will get past him.”
And while taking those chances hurt Diggs at time, he was right more times than he was wrong based on what Wyman saw.
“In his highlight film if you go look at it, (he has) just beautiful timing as far as when to jump, when to put your hand up,” Wyman said. “They said he’s kind of a grabber, but I didn’t see too much of that. I thought it was fair enough where you’re going to put your hand on a guy at the receiver’s back or jersey or whatever, but as far as reaching with the correct hand and his timing and everything, it looks pretty good.”
So if the Seahawks do keep the 27th overall pick and make a selection, could Diggs be that guy? Wyman said it’s unlikely, but could happen because of what Seahawks general manager John Schneider looks for in the secondary.
“He’s a really talented guy, but like I said, it’s like he’s really good and really bad at times (and he’s) not a great tackler and I know (the Seahawks) want someone who’s really physical,” he said. ” … I would be very surprised if they took him, but it felt as I was watching him kind of like a ‘John Schneider special’ that they might take a chance on a guy like this just because he’s such a playmaker.”
If Diggs or another cornerback is selected by the Seahawks at 27, they would be the highest selected cornerback of the Pete Carroll-John Schneider era. Griffin currently holds that honor and he was a third-round pick in 2017.
Schneider and Carroll have only used a first-round pick on the secondary one time, and that was on safety Earl Thomas in 2010, the first draft that Schneider and Carroll did after being hired by the Seahawks.
Listen to Wyman’s full breakdown at this link or in the player below at the 24:22 mark.
710 ESPN Seattle’s Dave Wyman does not have Twitter, but Bob, Dave and Moore does.
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