Quandre Diggs played his first game as a Seahawk on Monday night, and coach Pete Carroll loved what he saw.
Diggs, a safety acquired for a fifth-round draft pick in a trade with the Lions, intercepted a pass and played all 88 defensive snaps in the Seahawks’ overtime victory over the 49ers, and Carroll said the Seahawks got their best game of the season from the safety position.
“I think the settling presence of a veteran, and also, [Diggs] is a hitter,” Carroll said. “He’s a real hitter and he goes for it. He had a couple big shots. Had a big shot in the toss. Had a couple shots on receivers that I think had a factor later on in the game. . . . You combine what [Diggs and Bradley McDougald] did, I thought the safety play was the best we’ve seen it this year. I thought that was the best game that our safeties have played. I’m hoping that we can continue to grow and get better and feed off it. It’s an early assessment because Q’s just played one game. He can do a lot of things, so we’ll be anxious to figure out how he can complement what we’re doing and utilize him now that he’s crossed the threshold of playing time for us.”
It’s a credit to Diggs that he could arrive on a new team and learn the system well enough that he could play every snap, and play at a high level, in his first game. And it raises a question of why the Lions were so eager to get rid of him: The Lions’ defense gave up three touchdown passes to Mitchell Trubisky in a loss to the Bears on Sunday. They could have used a player like Diggs.