Second- and third-year NFL players ready to break out in 2021: Defense edition

Cornerback - Trevon Diggs

Cornerback – Trevon Diggs

The Cowboys had an outstanding draft in 2020 with all but one of the selected players ranking higher in my rankings.

With the 51st overall selection in the second round, they made Alabama’s Trevon Diggs the eighth corner taken in 2020. That was about the range I had him in too, as my CB6 and 47th overall prospect, but I thought this was one of the higher-upside players in that range and I could have easily seen him go late on night one.

He might have had one of the worst tapes of any corner that year, when he got exposed by LSU superstar receiver Ja’Marr Chase and trucked by running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire on numerous occasions, but his athleticism, with the genetic base as brother Stefon Diggs, the length and impressive plays on the ball made him an intriguing name. And while you could argue he had a few of the worst reps for an outside corner his rookie campaign, you can’t deny some of the high-end plays he made.

Diggs was asked to fill big shoes with Byron Jones leaving in free agency, and while the run defense was absolutely atrocious in 2020, with Chidobe Awuzie missing half the year as well, the Cowboys were vulnerable in big plays on the outside.

The former Alabama DB missed four games of his debut season, combining for three interceptions and 14 more passes broken up the rest of the way. Despite being heavily targeted and some technical issues leading to bad losses, like what should have been a 63-yard touchdown to D.K. Metcalf, he continued to fight, like he did on the play I mentioned earlier, as he punched the ball out and through the end-zone for a touchback at the end of it.

Looking at the overall stats, they were more than respectable for a rookie, allowing a completion percentage of 54.8% and a passer rating of 85.8, even though it included five touchdowns. As expected to some degree, I think you can certainly call it an up-and-down showcase, when you look at the numbers, allowing a passer rating above 115 in four games, but below 80 in seven of the other eight contests he was out there for.

As a press-corner, Diggs has the length to crowd receivers at the line of scrimmage. His jam technique could use some work, but he can throw guys off with his physical nature. He ran 4.43 at the Alabama pro day (didn’t participate in the combine) at 6’2”, 200 pounds, and as you go through his rookie tape, there are several impressive snaps, where he is stride for stride with true burners on go routes down the sideline, plus then he can track the ball over the inside shoulder and make WR-like catches on it.

He has that innate ability to stay in phase with a receiver, but then turn his head and play the ball when it’s time. Adding to that, Diggs displays surprisingly loose hips to get back into position after initially opening the wrong way. He may not be the quickest to stop because of that lanky build, but his re-acceleration is excellent, which you see against pick-and-switch releases, where he’s put in an unfavorable position of having to bubble or shoot through a lane, but he can still contest the catch, ultimately, often times getting back on top of shallow crossers across from bunch sets or stacks.

Diggs routinely bumps guys at the top of their route, but not to the point where he gets penalized for it, as he was flagged just four times as a rookie, including one for illegal contact being declined.

Trevon Diggs ate Cedrick Wilson up at every stage of this rep. Love that Diggs is using feints in press. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/JPYHmIY4jj

— John Owning (@JohnOwning) July 29, 2021

He is strong enough to re-route tight ends to some degree when they are the last eligible receivers on his side, and he has long arms to still keep contact with the targets at the end of his reach. That also enables him to come over the back of receivers and knock the ball up for grabs, setting up his safeties and linebackers for easy picks on in-breaking routes.

While his work in cover-two was limited, when Diggs was asked to control the flats, he showed the ability to toggle between the high-low stretch to not let quarterbacks read it cleanly. In three-deep coverages, he not only has the speed to not let the target get behind him straight up, but he finds post routes across the field, when he can fall off in cover-three, as the receiver to his side quickly works inside.

My biggest issue with Diggs coming out of college was his tackling, leaving his feet too much and dipping his head, but as a rookie, he was really effective for a corner, missing just 7.9 percent of his attempts. He may not be a tone-setter in that regard, but he will wrap his body around bigger ball-carriers and drag them to the turf in the end. He also had a few key stops, where he had to come from depth and make sure the ball-carrier was stopped before crossing the first-down marker.

Despite receiving some of the best DB coaching at Alabama, technical nuances are what Diggs has to really work on. He gets caught lunging way too aggressively and loses badly off the line against skilled receivers with their hands, when he’s in tight press-alignment. He also has a tendency of arriving at the target a little early, when he’s already there in a good position.

Because of his lanky build, he takes too long to stick his foot in the ground and work downhill when playing way off, where weight-transitioning plays a big factor. However, I don’t expect to see much of that in 2021 under new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

Like all Seattle-style defensive minds, he has adapted to the modern game to some degree, especially with being more aggressive with his blitz-packages, but I’d still expect a high amount of cover-three and then press-man, when he wants to bring pressure. We’ve seen him call a lot of single-high coverages, even when he didn’t have an adequate centerfielder.

This year’s second-round pick Kelvin Joseph from Kentucky will likely start opposite Diggs, which will lead the offense to attack the rookie more. Coming into year, this guy will primarily play coverages that he’s comfortable with, opposing teams won’t try to attack him with certain matchups as much and when he does get thrown at, if he just works on timing his arrival a little better, he has the exceptional ball-skills to produce PBUs and INTs at a high rate.