Hawks Trade for Lions Safety Quandre Diggs

[RiverDog]

Sounds like a great trade, but there has to be a catch as all we gave up was exchanging a 5th round pick for a 7th.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/seah ... ixcZS8kEv4

[jshawaii22]

A lot of pissed off Lion fans right now on PFT... they all seem to think this was a bad trade for them and don't understand it. They liked Diggs. I hope he works out for the Seahawks. Sounds like one of our safeties (Thompson, cough, cough) has pizzed off the coaches to the point of this.

[Aseahawkfan]

Glad they are trying to do something to shore up this awful defense.

[Uppercut]

Isn't he only like 5-9? Not exactly a Kam

[RiverDog]

Isn't he only like 5-9? Not exactly a Kam

He's probably going to play free safety for us as it sounds like Thompson is in the doghouse while Pete is drooling over Blair's play at strong safety. Size isn't nearly as big of an attribute for a free safety. Earl Thomas is only 5'10".

[obiken]

Glad they are trying to do something to shore up this awful defense.

Is our defense really that bad ASF? We have only averaged 2 TD drives in the 7 games. IMHO the offense has to stop turning the ball over. NO, we are not Championship class at any position except QB, but the defense is not the major reason we lost the 2 games.

[RiverDog]

Glad they are trying to do something to shore up this awful defense.

Is our defense really that bad ASF? We have only averaged 2 TD drives in the 7 games. IMHO the offense has to stop turning the ball over. NO, we are not Championship class at any position except QB, but the defense is not the major reason we lost the 2 games.

I realize you were asking ASF, but I'll respond.

No, we aren't "that bad". We're currently ranked in the middle of the pack, 16th out of 32 teams. We're a little worse in points per game, but you have to take into account 3 TD's given up by the offense and special teams and a fumble on our own 3 yard line. 28 points that you can't hang on the defense.

The problem is that with the type of offense we run, ie run heavy, we have to have a top 10 defense as the running game eats up clock. That naturally keeps scoring low, so an average defense should be in the top 10 statistically simply because of the limited opportunities opposing offenses have. The defensive performance to this point isn't likely to cut it. We have to get better.

The other thing that makes our defense look bad is that we're not used to it. Pete always fields good defensive teams, so this year's team is not meeting our personal expectations.

[jshawaii22]

How we distribute Cap Space has a lot to do with the team weaker D play. We all know that Russell, for his first 4 years, we scored him on a couple million a year along with Bobby Wags the LOB and all the other great non-first round draft picks. During those years, I think 65-70% of the cap went to the D. And the results, along with 3 of the best drafts in our history produced the 'glory years'.

Obviously, once Russell hit the jackpot at 32m, and the Boom left town, the $$$ the crept back to the offensive side with our OLine and Lockett benefiting. This is the hardest part of the NFL. Now we need that next 'great draft' -- but it just hasn't happened yet. We have some developing picks (our 2 corners and J Reed) I do give JS a lot of credit for his last few trades and good FA pickups, both veterans and rookies. He hits on these as much as anyone in the league, but it's not enough with Russell's cap to just be 'good' --

[Aseahawkfan]

Is our defense really that bad ASF? We have only averaged 2 TD drives in the 7 games. IMHO the offense has to stop turning the ball over. NO, we are not Championship class at any position except QB, but the defense is not the major reason we lost the 2 games.

Worst defense of the Pete Carroll era. Giving up 25 points or more a game. That is terrible. Pete has to be going nuts. Defense hasn't been this bad since his first year here. Even if we subtract the 21 points from bad offensive play we're looking at 22 points a game with defense and special teams. That is terrible. Especially when defenses like the 49ers, Saints, and 49ers are giving up 10 to 13 points a game. I'm not used to a Pete Carroll defense being this bad given the style of ball he likes.

[obiken]

ASHF, You have to remember guy, this the new reality. You pay RW a boatload and this is what you get on defense. Your damned if you do, and damned if you dont. The only 2 ways out are find a guy like TB that wants to win more than getting paid, or you trade a Franchise Qb and hope for the best the draft every 5 years.

[c_hawkbob]

Diggs is an excellent pickup for the price. He can play anywhere in the backfield (drafted as a corner, moved to safety, can play the nickle) and was voted a defensive captain by his teammates. This is another feather in Johnboy's cap.

[c_hawkbob]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/lions-trad ... 58903.html

[RiverDog]

Diggs is an excellent pickup for the price. He can play anywhere in the backfield (drafted as a corner, moved to safety, can play the nickle) and was voted a defensive captain by his teammates. This is another feather in Johnboy's cap.

When I first saw news of this trade, I was scratching my head, thinking that there must be some sort of kicker in it, a bad injury history, locker room problem, or whatever. It's highway robbery as all we did was exchange a 5th for a 7th, especially considering that he's already signed through 2021.

[Hawktawk]

Any help is good as this is nauseating to watch compared to the glory years. Granted we were spoiled.

I still say its a lot about scheme though. This front 7 is not playing remotely as well on the field as they looked on paper. There's a coaching element to this.A strong front 7 helps the back end a hell of a lot more than adding a journeyman to the back end. Of the 4 Mayfield errors 3 were unforced and were not pressuring anyone, giving up chunk plays, one of the worst team defending long passes. News flash. Get in the QBs face there aren't many long passes.We need schematic changes to get these superior athletes loose.

Canning Richard was a bad move. As a DC Norton Jr is an OK linebacker coach...

[RiverDog]

Any help is good as this is nauseating to watch compared to the glory years. Granted we were spoiled.

I still say its a lot about scheme though. This front 7 is not playing remotely as well on the field as they looked on paper. There's a coaching element to this.A strong front 7 helps the back end a hell of a lot more than adding a journeyman to the back end. Of the 4 Mayfield errors 3 were unforced and were not pressuring anyone, giving up chunk plays, one of the worst team defending long passes. News flash. Get in the QBs face there aren't many long passes.We need schematic changes to get these superior athletes loose.

Canning Richard was a bad move. As a DC Norton Jr is an OK linebacker coach...

I agree that the front 7 hasn't played up to their billing, but they were using a little bit different strategy last Sunday as the plan was to try to contain Jackson vs. putting a lot of direct pressure on him. So much for that plan as he ended up running for over 100 yards.

But there is some hope for the future. The return of Reed should help take some of the pressure off of Clowney.

[idhawkman]

Isn't he only like 5-9? Not exactly a Kam

Is he strong safety or free safety? ET wasn't that tall and worked out well as a FS.

[idhawkman]

Teams have adjusted to our mundane zone defense scheme. We all know that Pete's philosophy is that we do what we do and then make adjustments at half but even that is very minor adjustments. Say what you want about NE but Belicheat does get more out of his players and will take away an entire part of your game plan but what is most amazing is that he can turn it on from week to week. A reciever this week, a RB next week, a QB the next, etc. I often wonder what our team would be like if we actually did a game plan both for offense and defense and implemented them to start a game instead of waiting to the 3rd and 4th quarters.

[Aseahawkfan]

ASHF, You have to remember guy, this the new reality. You pay RW a boatload and this is what you get on defense. Your damned if you do, and damned if you dont. The only 2 ways out are find a guy like TB that wants to win more than getting paid, or you trade a Franchise Qb and hope for the best the draft every 5 years.

It's bad drafting and development. We built the Legion of Boom with 5th round picks, a throwaway, and a 1st round pick. The D-line was also low picks like Chris Clemons and Bennett with a 3rd round pick like Mebane and a signing like Avril. Fact is that Pete and John just aren't hitting as well on defensive talent. They've had some terrible misses like the 2nd round Malik McDowell who never played a down. And just haven't been bringing in quality defensive talent to replace the guys we've lost.

Seems Pete and John have lost their drafting mojo on the defensive side of the ball. You can have a great defense without spending huge sums on it. You have to be able to draft and develop well. We did that early on with our record setting defense. Now they're missing more often than they hit on both sides of the ball. There isn't that relentless energy to draft and develop Pete and John had when they first got here.

[Hawktawk]

Blair looked good last week. Maybe we hit on one there. He brings the lumber unlike anyone since kam bam too.

[RiverDog]

ASHF, You have to remember guy, this the new reality. You pay RW a boatload and this is what you get on defense. Your damned if you do, and damned if you dont. The only 2 ways out are find a guy like TB that wants to win more than getting paid, or you trade a Franchise Qb and hope for the best the draft every 5 years.

It's bad drafting and development. We built the Legion of Boom with 5th round picks, a throwaway, and a 1st round pick. The D-line was also low picks like Chris Clemons and Bennett with a 3rd round pick like Mebane and a signing like Avril. Fact is that Pete and John just aren't hitting as well on defensive talent. They've had some terrible misses like the 2nd round Malik McDowell who never played a down. And just haven't been bringing in quality defensive talent to replace the guys we've lost.

Seems Pete and John have lost their drafting mojo on the defensive side of the ball. You can have a great defense without spending huge sums on it. You have to be able to draft and develop well. We did that early on with our record setting defense. Now they're missing more often than they hit on both sides of the ball. There isn't that relentless energy to draft and develop Pete and John had when they first got here.

My theory is that Pete made a lot of hay early when he still had a lot of connections and insights to college players. A lot of those players he hit on, ie Sherman from Stanford, Browner from Oregon State, Wagner from Utah State (via LA), were west coast guys. Even Beast was from Cal (although he was acquired by trade). The further Pete got away from his college coaching days, the worse our drafting seems to have gotten.

The other problem is that he hitched his wagon to Tom Cable. The only OL that Cable brought in that we gave a 2nd contract to was Britt, and that was after he had failed to produce at two other positions.

So we'll see. I'm still optimistic that he'll put together another top 10 defense and with it another SB contender, perhaps even this season. We're in a very good position with a 5-2 record.

[obiken]

Good theory. He still gets a bunch of young kids to run around for him on defense. My Theory is that after 2 years the Tony Robbins slogans, and rah rah gets old.

[RiverDog]

Good theory. He still gets a bunch of young kids to run around for him on defense. My Theory is that after 2 years the Tony Robbins slogans, and rah rah gets old.

That theory has actually has been borne out by guys like Sherman that were quoted as saying that Pete's style gets old. One of my biggest complaints about Pete when we hired him was that his coaching style was tailored to appeal to the college game and the younger athlete. I was wrong about it in the sense that it worked for the first few years. But I think that for a lot of veteran players, Sherman and Bennett in particular and perhaps ET, there's a shelf life on that kind of style. There are exceptions, such as I think Pete's style still appeals to personalities like Russell, and of course, the new and impressionable players that are brought in.

[LTH]

Glad they are trying to do something to shore up this awful defense.

I love this trade! I think it does shore up the secondary a bit as the safety's are VERY young... Diggs brings valuable experience for these young guys to draw off of, guys like T-2...

great locker room guy... greta trade!

LTH

[idhawkman]

I don't think any of the drafting or talent is worse than what we had before. What you have now though is offenses who have figured out how to attack this defensive scheme. The problem is that Pete won't change what he does to evolve and counter their counters.