Seahawks Set to Reunite With Quandre Diggs, Re-Sign Veteran to Practice Squad
Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs (6) after intercepting a New York Giants pass in the second half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
RENTON, Wash. - Speaking with reporters over Zoom on Monday, Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald took a playful approach responding to the team’s growing safety depth concerns with Julian Love still on injured reserve and oblique injury in Sunday’s win over the Tennessee Titans.
“Yeah, we’re just going to play with one safety and put everybody else in the box,” Macdonald smiled. “Just kidding. I don't know, we’ll have to figure something out.”
As it turns out, the Seahawks already had a plan playing out behind the scenes. Though Love could potentially return to practice this week and Okada may avoid his own injured reserve stint, it’s possible both players could be out for at least one week, if not longer, and Macdonald and general manager John Schneider have opted to take a blast to the past to help fill the void.
While a signing has yet to be finalized, Seattle plans to re-sign veteran safety Quandre Diggs to its practice squad, providing a proven, experienced insurance policy for a banged-up secondary. The 32-year old defender most recently played in nine games with four starts for Tennessee this season before being waived on November 7, making him a free agent.
Now in his 11th NFL season, Diggs enjoyed a highly successful first stint in the Pacific Northwest after Schneider acquired him from the Lions in a trade deadline deal in 2019. Following the deal, he intercepted three passes in five games, immediately bolstering a secondary that had struggled to replace former Legion of Boom members Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor at the safety positions.
In parts of five seasons with the Seahawks, Diggs intercepted 18 passes, totaled 345 tackles, and garnered Pro Bowl selections three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022. He recorded at least four interceptions in all three of those seasons, performing as one of the top ball-hawking defensive backs in the NFL and earning himself a lucrative extension.
However, after picking off only one pass in 2023, with Macdonald coming on board and ready to shake things up a bit personnel-wise, Seattle opted to release Diggs as a cap casualty before free agency started in March 2024. He latched on with Tennessee, appearing in eight games last year before suffering a season-ending foot injury, re-signing with the franchise this summer on another one-year deal before his departure earlier this month.
At this stage of his career, Diggs isn’t in his prime anymore, evidenced in part by the fact he has no interceptions and one pass breakup in his past 17 games played for the Titans. However, some of that production dip has to do with playing on a defense lacking talent around him, and the Seahawks have shown they can maximize the talent of their safeties in Macdonald’s scheme since the coach took over for Pete Carroll last season, including Okada’s unexpected emergence filling in for Love with stellar play.
It will take time for Diggs to acclimate to Macdonald’s system, but at the same time, he has played in a variety of schemes in his lengthy career and he’s renowned for his high football IQ. With 154 games on his resume, he should be able to get up to speed quickly, and if anyone can latch onto a practice squad and get ready to play meaningful defensive snaps in only three days, the playmaking veteran would be the one to bet on.
Keeping that in mind, depending on the status of Love and Okada this week, it wouldn’t be a surprise at all if Diggs returns to his former stead roaming in the Seahawks’ secondary against the Vikings on Sunday, even if being utilized as a sub-package rotational piece. It’s also possible that the team may be signing him simply to ensure that if another player goes down, they will have a viable option to plug into the lineup once he gets his feet back underneath him in familiar territory.
