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Seattle Got Tired of Waiting and Signed a Cornerback Who Can Actually Practice
Trevon Diggs signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks on Wednesday afternoon, a day after working out for the team in Renton. Seattle released receiver Julian Hicks to make room. He walks into Mike Macdonald’s plans as a third cornerback behind Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe.
There was a stretch where Diggs was the scariest ball-hawk in football. He led the NFL with 11 interceptions in 2021, made All-Pro, went back to the Pro Bowl in 2022, and turned it into a five-year, $97 million extension from Dallas.
11
Interceptions Diggs had in 2021, the most in the NFL that season.
Then the knees happened. Three procedures. Twenty-two games in three seasons. Dallas waived him last December, Green Bay claimed him, played him twice and let him go in January. He has spent this summer as a free agent watching other people report to camp. “I’m looking to show I’m still the best,” he said Wednesday, which is the only sentence a man in that position can say and still mean it.
The fit is less of a leap than it looks. Diggs played at Alabama with Jobe. Seattle’s defensive backs coach, Karl Scott, coached him there. DeMarcus Lawrence was his teammate in Dallas for five years. He is not walking into a room of strangers, he is walking into a reunion with a physical.
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He is not walking into a room of strangers, he is walking into a reunion with a physical.
And he can do something Terrion Arnold cannot: practice. Seattle agreed to terms with Arnold six days ago and still has not signed him, because the moment they do he goes on the commissioner’s exempt list and disappears into meetings. One of these corners might help in September. The other one is a lottery ticket with a court date.
SOURCES →
Hard Knocks
Schneider Said On Camera That He’d Have Cut Terrion Arnold Too
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Felony counts Arnold is facing, per reporting on his June release by Detroit.
Arnold was arrested on eight felony counts stemming from an alleged incident in February. The Lions cut him in June. He is out on bail and his next hearing is in October.
So the general manager of the team currently trying to add him explained, on national television, why the last team subtracted him. I have watched a lot of front-office media training and none of it prepared me for that. Whether it reads as honesty or as a man talking himself out of a deal in real time probably depends on whether Arnold ever signs the paperwork.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Brady Russell didn’t finish Saturday’s game against Dallas. His wife Annie went into labor, the HBO crew filmed him leaving the locker room at halftime, and daughter Hadley arrived a few hours later. Russell called the night “eventful.” Best excuse for an early exit in franchise history. Seahawks.com
The corresponding move for Diggs was releasing receiver Julian Hicks, who Seattle had only just added after the Dallas game. He got a locker, a playbook and a parking spot, roughly in that order, and lost all three before Thursday. NFL.com
Tory Horton missed Monday’s practice with Macdonald offering only that he’s “working through some things.” Dating to his last year at Colorado State, Horton has had back-to-back seasons end early. Vagueness in August is fine. Vagueness in a pattern is less fine. Field Gulls
Before this week, the third cornerback job was Nehemiah Pritchett against Noah Igbinoghene, with Julian Neal working back from injury. Two veterans later, that competition has gone from a quiet position battle to a room where somebody good is going to get cut on August 30. ESPN
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles waived receiver Mario Williams with an injury designation after a hamstring ended his preseason, and filled the spot with Alex Bachman. Bachman is the guy the Rams signed as an undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest in 2019 and then waived with an injury settlement that same September. Seven years, three other franchises, and now he’s back in the building that cut him first. The Super Bowl favorites are running a lost-and-found.
NINERS
San Francisco used the 252nd pick in 2025 on return specialist Junior Bergen, kept him on the practice squad all year, signed him to a futures deal in January, spent this summer publicly evaluating who should return kicks, then waived him on August 12 before he played a preseason snap. The Jets signed him Wednesday. One full year of development, delivered free of charge to New York.
CARDINALS
Mike LaFleur loves joint practices. “I would love to do two joint practices,” he said. “I’d love to do three joint practices.” There is one catch: Arizona can never host one, because it’s too hot for a visiting team to come and their own stadium can’t fit two rosters. So the Cardinals fly out every year. This week that means Green Bay, where the head coach on the other sideline is his brother. Family reunion, away game, no thermostat.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This cornerback went undrafted out of Oregon State in 2005, never played a game for Denver, became a three-time CFL All-Star and a Grey Cup champion with the Calgary Stampeders, then signed in Seattle and made the Pro Bowl in his first NFL season. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Brandon Browner. He won the Grey Cup in 2008, joined the Seahawks before the 2011 season, made the Pro Bowl that year, and ended up with two Super Bowl rings, one with Seattle and one with New England.
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Somebody in that cornerback room is about to lose a locker. See you tomorrow. — The Rooster