The Seahawks' Forgotten Extension Candidate
After months of back and forth, the Seahawks and star safety Jamal Adams have finally come to an agreement as the 12s let out a collective sigh of relief. Seattle has finally crossed the biggest priority of the 2021 offseason off its to-do list, albeit with just three weeks until the regular season kicks off.
But as surely as the world continues to rotate on its axis, general manager John Schneider will continue to play the extension game, and left tackle Duane Brown is at the front of most fans' minds.
It makes a lot of sense, right? The Seahawks don't have a viable replacement on their roster and, despite his age, Brown is still one of the best left tackles in football. But while we chase the obvious, there may be an even more important fish left in the extension pond: Quandre Diggs.
"Oh, absolutely. He deserves it," Adams said of a potential extension for Diggs. "Hopefully we can get that done. I'm not the GM, so I don't know when. But, you know, his time is gon' come and they're gonna do right by him."
Diggs, who was acquired from the Lions for a fifth-round pick during the 2019 season, has been a crucial member of the Seahawks' defense since the day he arrived. He's given Seattle something it hadn't had since the departure of Earl Thomas: a ball-hawking centerfielder that makes everybody else's job easier.
In his 21 games with the Seahawks, Diggs has snagged eight interceptions. He's also racked up 85 tackles, 13 passes defended, one fumble recovery and one touchdown. He played all 16 games in 2021 and the 28-year old is still in his athletic prime and shows no loss of speed or anticipation in the middle of the field. Diggs' skills have earned the respect of the players around the league, recently being voted in by his peers at No. 77 on the NFL's Top 100 list.
Despite this, nobody seems too worried about the massive hole that would be left by Diggs, whose contract expires at the end of this season. The Seahawks have a few internal options, including Marquise Blair and Ugo Amadi, but neither has yet proven they can produce at this level and both are getting more looks at the nickel corner spot than at safety, for obvious reasons.
Diggs brings the boom in the run game and covers the middle of the field beautifully, a skill set that isn't easy to find. With the salary cap set to boom and Seattle projected to be $46 million under the cap next spring (before factoring in Adams' new deal), there isn't a reason to not get this done. Brown might be the more immediate priority, but Diggs is a crucial player to get locked down before the end of the 2021-22 season.
