When you share a defense with Micah Parsons, it's hard to be a standout player in your own right and gain national attention for your play. But with a league-high 11 interceptions, a second-best 21 passes defended and a Defensive Player of the Month Award and Pro Bowl nod under his belt, Trevon Diggs has done just that. It's impossible to let Parsons distract fans from the impact that Diggs has had on the field alongside him.
But according to a pair of Pro Football Focus analysts it's also easy to get distracted by Diggs' gaudy numbers — how could you not, especially when he was threatening the single-season interception record for the bulk of the season? — and not take the full picture of his performance into account. Using PFF's database of stats, two analysts highlighted some of the not-so-stellar aspects of Diggs' sophomore season.
Steve Palazzolo shared that Diggs has surrendered more than 1,000 yards into his coverage this season, which is tops in the NFL. Despite all of those picks — and maybe the interception totals are a result of this tidbit — it really seems like teams are throwing his way. But that's not all — fellow PFF analyst Diante Lee brought in the big guns to back up Palazzolo's point, capping his analysis with a gut punch of a take: the interceptions hide what has been one of the worst cornerback seasons we've ever seen.
Wow. That's a lot of cooking methods to make up that list at the end, there. And if you're an NFL cornerback, the less cooking methods used to describe how you defend, the better.
It's pretty easy, then, to understand why Diggs is ranked No. 80 out of 118 eligible cornerbacks in PFF's 2021-22 season rankings to this point. He's below teammates Anthony Brown (No. 35) and Jourdan Lewis (No. 71) on the list. Among all cornerbacks, his ability to help prevent the ground game is in the bottom five that the league has to offer, with a paltry PFF run defense grade of 32.4.
His coverage grade hovers around the middle (66.7) and is close in proximity to names like Patrick Surtain II, James Bradberry and Marlon Humphrey... so maybe we should pump the breaks a little bit on calling him "bad" or anything of the sort. But Lee clearly feels as though the stats he presented are strong enough to really dampen Diggs' case for having a breakout season, and it's not like those stats are debatable.
And then there are those who will argue the exact opposite, as seen below. What are your thoughts?
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