Trevon Diggs wouldn't be on the Seahawks right now if everything had gone according to plan.

Seattle's coming off a Super Bowl season, just locked up Devon Witherspoon, and finished last year with the NFL’s best scoring defense. This wasn't a roster desperate for another big name in the secondary.

But the Seahawks do need a cornerback who can actually practice and play while Terrion Arnold’s intense legal situation plays out.

Seattle has agreed to terms with Arnold, but his contract hasn't been finalized yet. Once it is, the NFL is expected to place him on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, which would keep him from practicing or playing for as long as he stays there.

Diggs gives them a different option: a former All-Pro who can walk into the building now and help keep the cornerback room from being built around a question mark.

Diggs Gives Seattle Something They Can Use Now

Seattle’s cornerback room had a pretty obvious opening after Riq Woolen signed with Philadelphia in free agency.

Witherspoon is still the centerpiece, and he’s one of the most versatile defensive backs in football. That versatility is a big part of what makes Mike Macdonald’s defense work. If Seattle has to park Witherspoon at one outside spot every week just because the depth isn’t there, it’s taking away some of the stuff that makes him such a problem for offenses.

Josh Jobe showed last season that he can handle a role in the rotation, and rookie Julian Neal gives the Seahawks another young player to develop. But Diggs is the only corner in this group who’s already shown he can completely change a game from the outside.

His 2021 season still feels a little ridiculous. Diggs picked off 11 passes, took two of them back for touchdowns, and became the first player since Everson Walls in 1981 to get that many in a season.

We haven’t seen that version of Diggs consistently in a while, but 20 interceptions in 67 career games is still a pretty strong track record. If Seattle can get even some of that playmaking back, putting him behind Macdonald’s pressure packages makes a lot of sense.

The Seahawks can force quarterbacks to speed up and disguise where the pressure's coming from. That really opens things up for a secondary with a lot of instinct. Diggs has always been at his best when he can trust what he sees and go get the football.

He Has To Be Healthy For This To Work

Seattle isn’t signing the version of Diggs who picked off 11 passes five years ago. They're signing a 27-year-old who’s trying to prove that player is still in there somewhere. This is a guy who's spent most of the past three seasons trying to get right.

Diggs tore the ACL in his left knee after just two games in 2023. He came back for 11 games the following season, then needed another procedure on that same knee.

Last season, he played only nine games between Dallas and Green Bay. He didn’t record an interception or even break up a pass.

Add it all up, and Diggs has played 22 games over the past three years. Seventeen of his 20 career interceptions came during his first three seasons, before the ACL tear.

That’s why a player with his resume was still available in August. Seattle’s betting that better health can bring back at least some of the playmaking that made Diggs such a problem early in his career.

Diggs is at least saying that this offseason has been different. He called himself fully healthy and said it was the first offseason in years he spent training instead of rehabbing.

His goal was pretty simple:

I just want to be able to play healthy this year, full season, and help.

There’s no clever way around it. If his knee holds up, Seattle might’ve found a starting-caliber outside corner on a one-year deal. If it doesn’t, the Seahawks will be right back to leaning on the competition they clearly weren't very comfortable with.

Arnold's Timeline Is A Complete Mystery

Arnold’s situation comes with a completely different kind of uncertainty, and it’s much more serious than an injury.

The former Detroit first-round pick is facing eight felony charges in Florida — four counts of kidnapping and four counts of armed robbery — tied to a February incident. Arnold's pleaded not guilty and has denied the allegations through his attorneys and representatives.

There’s no trial date yet. His next scheduled court appearance is an Oct. 5th disposition hearing.

Seattle has said they still plan to sign Arnold, but even the timing of that is still up in the air. Macdonald acknowledged how serious the case is and said the Seahawks will let the legal process play out while the league decides if or when Arnold can return to the field.

Once Arnold signs, he’s expected to land on the Commissioner’s Exempt List. With Seattle’s permission, he could attend meetings and use team services, but he wouldn’t be allowed to practice or play.

From a roster standpoint, Seattle can’t count on him for Week 1, October, or any point in the season.

The football appeal is easy to see. Arnold was the No. 24 pick in 2024 and has the movement skills and physicality Macdonald likes in his pattern-match coverages.

Still, his production is more projection than finished product. Arnold has one interception in 24 regular-season games, and a shoulder injury limited him to eight appearances last year.

Seattle clearly believes there’s still a high-end corner to develop. But the bigger question — whether the Seahawks should’ve pursued him while he’s facing such serious charges — doesn’t go away just because the football fit makes sense.

Signing Diggs doesn’t answer that question, either. It just helps Seattle fill out their depth chart.

Seattle's Stacking Two Different Risks

The Seahawks now have two high-upside cornerbacks, and both of them have a very different availability question.

With Arnold, it’s an unresolved legal case and the NFL deciding when, or if, he can play. With Diggs, it’s a left knee that’s already cost him most of the last three seasons.

One gamble doesn’t cancel out the other. If Diggs gets hurt and Arnold still can’t play, Seattle will have added two big names without actually helping their team at all.

But the upside is pretty clear, too. If Diggs is healthy, he can start outside and give Macdonald another corner who can turn rushed throws into takeaways. And if Arnold eventually becomes eligible, Seattle could suddenly have Witherspoon, Diggs, Arnold, and Jobe available for the stretch run.

That’s the kind of swing a defending champion can afford to take. The Seahawks already know this defense works, and they’ve got their cornerstone in Witherspoon.

They needed options. Diggs gives them one they can put on the practice field right now.

All stats courtesy of NFL Pro.

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