Tag: safety rankings

Quandre Diggs not happy about being excluded from ESPN’s top 10 safety rankings

Apparently they’re still sleeping on Seahawks free safety Quandre Diggs.

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The NFL’s first preseason games of 2023 will begin about a month from now. Until then fans have to make do with rankings season.

ESPN is going through their own position rankings, which were compiled by polling various coaches, scouts and executives around the league. Apparently they’re still sleeping on Seahawks free safety Quandre Diggs, who was somehow excluded from their rankings of the NFL’s top 10 safeties. While he did get an honorable mention, Diggs is understandably not happy and is currently tweeting through it.

While some of Diggs’ teammates and contemporaries are talking him up and advising him to ignore the media, Diggs has a point that these rankings do matter when it comes time to negotiate a new contract.

For what it’s worth, Doug Farrar’s safety rankings at Touchdown Wire has Diggs at a far more appropriate No. 2 in the league at his position. Still, it’s unfortunate that Diggs is still flying under the radar when it comes to those folks who are actually making the personnel decisions in this business.

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Those in the know see an elite back-end defender, though.

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Quandre Diggs flew under the radar in Detroit, as many great players seem to do. However, since getting traded to Seattle Diggs has been impossible to ignore. No other safety in the league is a better ball-hawk right now and he’s earned three straight trips to the Pro Bowl for his efforts.

Diggs is more than just an All-Star these days, though. Those in the know see that he’s developed into an elite back-end defender. That includes Doug Farrar at Touchdown Wire, who’s begun his annual NFL positional rankings lists, starting with the safeties. Diggs came in at No. 2 on his list. Only Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Steelers ranked higher.

“Over the last two seasons (1,078 in 2021 and 1,012 in 2022), Quandre Diggs lined up at free/deep safety on 2,090 snaps, by far the most in the NFL… Yes, Diggs’ overall stats were great (10 catches allowed on 21 targets for 135 yards, 62 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, five interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 60.7), but you really have to separate him from everyone else in the NFL at his position as a deep defender.”

For Diggs to recover the way he has (he says he couldn’t even cut six weeks before the 2022 season began) and return to a high level of play only a few months after breaking his leg is mind-blowing stuff. Hats off to No. 6, who’s easily the best free safety this franchise has had not named Earl Thomas.

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Seahawks FS Quandre Diggs responds to getting snubbed from top-10 safety list

It’s strange that Diggs is still getting overlooked as much as he is.

July is the peak of rankings season, so everyone is rolling out their best-players-at-each position lists. Doug Farrar at Touchdown Wire recently ranked the top 13 safeties in the NFL going into the 2022 season. Seahawks starter Quandre Diggs came in at No. 9 on that list, just ahead of new Saints superstar Tyrann Mathieu.

For most football people the secret is out as far as Diggs is concerned. In Detroit he was overlooked for obvious reasons but since coming to Seattle he’s been playing his position at an elite level. Not everyone has gotten the memo, though. Some folks are still underrating Diggs’ ability compared to his competitors. For one example, in ESPN’s recent top-10 safeties list by polling league executives Diggs was inexplicably left out. Meanwhile, Jamal Adams just made the cut.

Bizarre as they are neither of those things are as weird as excluding both Bills studs Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, who made No. 1 on Farrar’s list.

It’s strange that Diggs is still getting overlooked as much as he is. Posting 13 interceptions in two and a half seasons used to be the kind of thing that earned a DB universal respect. Diggs isn’t playing recklessly for those numbers ala Marcus Peters, either. His coverage has been as solid as anyone can expect during that time – having only surrendered a total of four touchdowns (via Pro Football Reference) and extremely low passer ratings in both 2019 (55.4) and 2021 (63.4).

Possibly it’s because Diggs has made the Pro Bowl each of the last two seasons but hasn’t been able to play in the game itself – first due to the pandemic and then because of his leg injury last year.

No. 6 isn’t sweating it, though. Here’s how he responded.

A healthy attitude for anybody who plays what might be the game’s most dangerous and underappreciated position. In any case, Diggs knows how good he is and that’s all that really matters.

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PFF ranks both Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams among NFL’s top safeties

Both Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams were ranked among the top six players at their respective positions by Sam Monson at PFF.

Pro Football Focus has released a comprehensive list of the best players at every position in the NFL. The Seahawks still have holes to fill at several important spots, but one they definitely don’t have to worry about going into 2022 is safety. Not only do they have two of the game’s top starting safeties, but several quality backup options, as well.

Both Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams were ranked among the top six players at their respective positions by Sam Monson at PFF.

Among the coverage free safeties, Diggs came in at No. 6 on Monson’s list. Meanwhile, Adams was ranked No. 3 at box safety behind Jordan Whitehead of the Jets and Budda Baker of the Cardinals.

Together, they take up a massive portion of Seattle’s salary cap room this year. However, coach Pete Carroll has had tremendous success in the past defensively by investing in top-tier talent at this position.

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Ranking the top 10 safeties in the NFL going into 2020

Here’s how we rank the top 10 safeties in the league going into 2020.

Safeties never seem to get the respect they deserve despite having one of the most difficult jobs in football. Maybe it’s the fact that you can’t even see them on the broadcast angle during most games, but the position has been largely undervalued. That said, teams that don’t have enough talent at this spot are generally going nowhere fast. Let’s show them some love.

Here’s how we rank the top 10 safeties in the league going into 2020.

10. Tre Boston

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Boston admittedly wasn’t one of the league’s top safeties when he was drafted by the Panthers in 2014. He improved with time though, especially after he was released three years later and got signed by the Chargers. During his one season there and another with the Cardinals, Boston developed into an excellent free safety. His superb range and plus ball skills (three interceptions, 11 pass breakups in 2019) finally helped him cash in with a three-year, $18 million deal.

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