Getty Quandre Diggs after an interception.
The Detroit Lions made a move many consider puzzling to deal Quandre Diggs to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a fifth round draft pick, and folks are still scratching their head over the move a few months later.
Though the Seahawks didn’t use the trade as a springboard to bigger and better things in terms of winning the Super Bowl, they did fit Diggs into their defense seamlessly, and he figures to be a part of the mix moving forward for the team in the future.
As a result, the team’s move for Diggs was ranked fairly high in terms of a new list by ESPN’s Bill Barnwell rating all the trades made last season. Detroit’s move to dump Diggs placed at 16th on the list in the middle of the pack and was given a C+ grade.
Here’s what Barnwell wrote about the move:
“The Lions still haven’t really explained why they moved on from Diggs, a move that inspired his former teammates to lash out publicly against the organization. Detroit’s decision was Seattle’s gain, as the Seahawks were immediately able to sub in Diggs at their biggest point of weakness on defense. Seattle allowed a QBR of 31.2 with Diggs on the field, with that mark rising to 65.2 without their new safety.
Diggs’ late arrival in the Pacific Northwest and an ankle injury limited the University of Texas product to five regular-season games, but Diggs looks to be a massive bargain in Seattle.”
The Lions dealing Diggs was said to be more of a culture thing, but even though that might be the case, the team has still had to deal with the aftershocks of dealing him away. The safety position in the backfield took a dive as new pieces were shuffled in and the team struggled after the deal.
After the season, Detroit general manager Bob Quinn wouldn’t say much about the trade other than he felt it was the right move for the team to make at the time. Obviously, Seattle wouldn’t disagree with that notion much given how they benefitted in the end.
Quandre Diggs Trade Ripped Before
The Lions taking heat for this deal is nothing new. A few months back in his first game with the team, the team watched as Diggs had a huge debut on Monday Night Football with a key interception.
That led Ted Nguyen to proclaim on Twitter that he was stunned the Seahawks were able to acquire him from Detroit for mere peanuts. Here’s a look at what he said:
Quandre Diggs is really good. The Lions let this guy go for peanuts?
Amazing what a rangy safety could do for a single-high defense.
Peanuts, in this case, ended up being a fifth round pick in the 2019 draft. Still, with depth now thin at safety for Detroit, it looks more than a bit curious that the Lions would deal Diggs, especially given his fit with the Seattle team looking so perfect.
That’s a fact that most people who pay attention to the NFL can agree on.
Quandre Diggs Explains Trade
Diggs himself has a theory of why the Lions traded him, and he believes it has everything to do with who he is. As he explained to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, when Diggs was dealt to the Seattle Seahawks, he believes it had plenty to do with personality, and what he deems as an issue of power and control for the franchise.
Here’s a look at what Diggs said to Birkett about his take on the move a few weeks later:
“There wasn’t one incident that precipitated his trade to the Seattle Seahawks, but former Detroit Lions safety Quandre Diggs said his strong personality is ultimately what led the Lions to ship him out of town.
“I think it was more of just a control thing,” Diggs told the Free Press in a phone interview Thursday to promote Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s recent launch. “Them wanting to control the locker room. Control the locker room, control voices in the locker room.”
Diggs said Thursday he holds “no ill will” towards the franchise for the trade, and he expressed love for his former teammates, the city, Lions owner Martha Ford and the team brass that brought him to Detroit, former general manager Martin Mayhew, president Tom Lewand and coach Jim Caldwell.
Asked about his relationship with current Lions coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn, Diggs said, “It is what it is.”
That sounds like a very icy exit from the team. It’s fair to remember as pointed out that Diggs was a holdover from the previous regime, with former general manager Martin Mayhew drafting him and Jim Caldwell coaching him through his first few years in the league.
Change is going to happen in terms of fan favorites being moved when new coaching staffs take over with a different plan, but the move to deal Diggs seemed odd given his status as a team captain as well as a player the Lions had recently given a contract extension.
Whatever the reason, Diggs has now had his chance to show up on the field and prove how good he is, and folks have had the chance to break down the trade in their terms.
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