Despite the Dallas Cowboys finding another ball-hawk in DaRon Bland in 2023, they certainly felt the loss of star cornerback Trevon Diggs last season. Diggs is still underrated across the league, and with his torn ACL now behind him, the playmaker comes off the PUP list ready to prove his doubters wrong.
Trevon Diggs Found Added Motivation For 2024
Great athletes often find motivation from outside sources to give themselves an added boost. Ahead of the 2024 NFL season, it looks like that may be the case for Diggs as he tries to remind people of the type of player he is following the long layoff.
Recently, ESPN surveyed anonymous executives, coaches, and scouts across the league to determine the top 10 players at every position. Diggs, despite the production early in his career, wasn’t listed. However, he was featured in the honorable-mention section, but surely that wasn’t enough for the fiery competitor.
“I think you guys made him a little mad,” Micah Parsons said to reporters. “I ain’t never seen Trevon do some of the things he’s doing now. The work he’s putting in, the dedication, coming into meetings, absorbing as much knowledge, handling walkthroughs, how serious he is, how committed he is just to getting back.
“I can’t wait to see him back on the field. When you’ve got a playmaker like that, a lockdown corner, definitely a top-10 corner in the league, without a doubt. I just can’t wait. You can tell he misses it. He comes up to me every day, ‘Just wait until I get back.’”
Diggs was officially removed from the PUP list as of Monday, and the young cornerback is healthy and potentially more motivated than ever to remind the league of what he’s capable of.
Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs said he’s all the way back from last year’s season-ending knee injury. He’s able to do everything but the Cowboys will gradually bring him back. “Better safe than sorry.”
Diggs on not being on recent top 10 NFL cornerback list: “I feel like I’m in a… pic.twitter.com/8UmzCQr9pj
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) July 31, 2024
“I feel like I’m in a league of my own,” Diggs said. “There’s nobody that can do what I do.”
And 2024 provides him a chance to once again remind the league.
Diggs and Bland Could Be Best Cornerback Duo in the NFL
The Cowboys’ secondary clearly emphasizes taking the football away. In three full seasons, Diggs has tallied 17 interceptions, including the historic 11 interceptions he had in the 2021 season. Although he only played in two games in 2023, Diggs still tallied one interception before tearing his ACL.
For Bland, last season was his coming-out party, as he finished the year with nine interceptions and a record-breaking five pick-sixes. That follows his rookie season in 2022, when he had five interceptions as well, proving, like his teammate, that he knows how to get his hands on the ball.
However, despite the two ballhawks being teammates for the last two seasons, they have never lined up opposite one another in an NFL game. During Bland’s rookie season, he was a nickel corner and not the feared defender that he is today.
Today, Diggs and Bland figure to be the two outside cornerbacks for a Cowboys secondary that is one of the best in the NFL. Getting that type of production back on the outside is massive for a Cowboys defense that is going through a bit of a transitional period.
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New defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer will look to mix coverages, give different looks upfront, and let both of these dynamic playmakers make plays in the back end. Whether it is man coverage, where Diggs likes to bait quarterbacks into throws, or in a zone, where Bland is so good at stepping in front of a pass and going the distance, there aren’t many teams in the NFL that boast this type of talent in their secondary.
With much uncertainty surrounding the depth of the Cowboys’ pass rushers, it may be even more important than ever for the secondary to be on their A-game each week.
Now, adding Diggs back into the fold with Bland and what he was able to do last season, the Cowboys have a dangerous duo the rest of the NFL has to deal with.