Getty Dallas Cowboys corner Trevon Diggs celebrates after making an interception.
The Dallas Cowboys have officially started training camp, and it’s clear that star corner Trevon Diggs is fully locked in for the return to football.
Diggs has been outspoken recently about criticism and chatter surrounding his 2021 season. The corner led the NFL in interceptions in 2021, but his yards allowed has created debate, as this article will address below.
But in the meantime, the 23-year-old is at practice and making plays. In a clip shared by Dallas Star-Telegram reporter Clarence Hill Jr., Diggs enters a drill designed to work on making players miss and does exactly that.
Diggs breaking ankles
“Diggs breaking ankles,” Hill Jr. Tweeted on July 27.
Diggs’ experience as a wide receiver is on full display in the clip, as the lateral movement and step backwards make him look like a starting wide receiver for the Cowboys rather than their No. 1 corner.
To be fair, it’s the first day of training camp and Diggs is also making his moves against Ty Fryfogle, an undrafted free agent and rookie wide receiver who joined the team this past spring. Don’t expect Dallas to be counting this moment against the former Indiana Hoosier when it comes time to cut or keep the 23-year-old.
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Diggs Speaks Out on ‘Fake Stat’
It’s good to see Diggs making moves on the field, especially considering that the Cowboys corner was making his displeasure with Pro Football Focus and Madden 23 known on Twitter.
According to PFF, Diggs gave up 907 receiving yards in the 2021 season, the most of any player in the NFL. So when the Madden 23 cornerback ratings were released and Diggs did not crack the Top 10 highest-rated players, he was not happy.
In several separate Tweets, the Cowboys CB dropped his thoughts.
“I can work with 93 speed,” Diggs said. “anybody can play zone… Turnovers & Touchdowns… pff put out a fake stat for RT & y’all believed them.”
Diggs is a high-risk, high-reward corner according to the stats, but it’s clear that he is not accepting being considered anything but an elite receiver after an 11-interception season that saw him named to the Pro Bowl and the All-Pro first-team.
Cowboys Star Defends Diggs
Diggs isn’t the only one who took issue with the criticism of his 2021 season, as linebacker Micah Parsons also made his voice heard about the criticism his teammate has faced.
For Parsons, that kind of response to an All-Pro season is “disrespectful.”
“The guy had 11 interceptions,” Parsons said, per USA Today. “We’ve never seen it. I’ve never even seen someone come close to that since I’ve been alive. We haven’t all seen it, and it’s a shame that it got degraded because of, they say, the yards that he gave up… Without a doubt, I thought he was the best defensive player in the league last year. We’ve seen 20 sacks before. But in this era, we’ve never seen no one reach over 10-plus interceptions, so it’s disrespectful, to me, because I think he deserves all the credit in the world and deserves to be named a top-five corner if not the best corner in the league.”
It’s a somewhat fair point from Parsons, but the points and numbers pointing toward inconsistent performances from Diggs also have validity. At this point in the offseason, it’s all going to be about how Diggs follows up his stellar sophomore year with the Cowboys.