One of the standout players on the Cowboys’ defense in 2021, without a doubt, was Trevon Diggs. In his second year in the NFL, the young cornerback led the league in interceptions and second in passes defensed. Not only was this beneficial to Dallas, but it also earned Diggs a Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection.
However, there are those who have evaluated Diggs’ performance beyond his defensive output. And the cornerback does not come out well in those analyzes.
Such is the case with the statistics website Pro Football Focus (PFF). In his 2021 season cornerback ranking, Diggs is listed at #36. This is surprising, considering that he is not only the NFL’s interceptions leader this season, but also a Pro Bowler.
However, there are aspects that PFF sees beyond Diggs’ defensive output. One of them is the number of yards allowed by the cornerback, 1,068 in total. Most of those yards came after the catch, and in some cases were the product of big plays. An example of this is the touchdown that Diggs allowed in week 6 against the Patriots, this right after achieving an interception in the previous series.
PATRIOTS TAKE THE LEAD!! Trevon Diggs blows the coverage and gives up a long touchdown. pic.twitter.com/a6lxph1FM2
— DIE-HARD 🦅 Fans (@Eaglesfans9) October 17, 2021
Another critical aspect of the Dallas defensive back’s performance has to do with penalties. According to data from The Football Database, Diggs ranks #11 among the most penalized players in the 2021 season with 9 offenses committed. In fact, Diggs was the second most penalized cornerback this season. He was second only to L’Jarius Sneed (Chiefs), who had 10 overall.
For Sam Monson, analyst at Pro Football Focus, there is no denying that Diggs has made impressive plays in the 2021 season. However, the young cornerback’s level of play still has to improve. Diggs still makes a lot of concessions in coverage and commits a lot of penalties. This despite the fact that many quarterbacks avoided throwing the ball into the area covered by it.
But not everything is negative. PFF also recently highlighted one of Trevon Diggs’ positives at cornerback. In his NFL career, the Alabama product hasn’t dropped a single ball that could end in an interception. This comes up because of what happened with Jaquiski Tartt (49ers) in the NFC final. There, Tartt struggled with the ball by dropping a possible interception, and that was a play that cost San Francisco the championship.
Trevon Diggs has never dropped an interception in his career 🥶
📸: @TrevonDiggs pic.twitter.com/n8pCT6WZCz
— PFF (@PFF) February 7, 2022
Jaquiski Tartt drops a dime from Matthew Stafford
pic.twitter.com/J6H3phOhyy— PFF (@PFF) January 31, 2022
Regardless, Diggs had a great second season with Dallas. The cornerback finished as the NFL leader in interceptions (11), and second in passes defensed (21). Besides, he also recorded 52 combined tackles and two touchdowns. All this in 16 games in the regular season.
Because of this, the Cowboys cornerback is compared to an illustrious player in his position such as Deion Sanders. Such a comparison was made by the journalist Kevin Sherrington, in a article for Dallas Morning News. In his two seasons in the NFL, Diggs has recorded 14 interceptions. And that’s the same number Sanders achieved in his five seasons with Dallas in the 1990s.
Trevon Diggs with interception number 9 on the season! 💪🏾🙌🏾😤🔥 pic.twitter.com/LjkGasSTqz
— Dallas Cowboys Collaboration (@mailman_phil) December 3, 2021
There is no doubt that Trevon Diggs is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL right now. However, the Alabama product still has a lot of room for improvement in his game. Defensive production already has it going for him, but he still needs to work on his coverage and his penalty problem. Correcting this, Diggs can stand as one of the best defensive backs in the league in terms of his performance beyond the numbers.
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Aside from his numbers, how did Trevon Diggs perform in