Cowboys land high-upside, physical CB Trevon Diggs in the second round of NFL Draft

It’s day two of the NFL Draft, and like day one, the Cowboys stayed put and allowed the board to fall to them. In doing so, they landed a very talented, high-upside, but raw cornerback prospect out of Alabama, Trevon Diggs. Diggs possesses excellent size, length, and ball skills at the cornerback position. He weighed in at 6’1”, 205-lbs with 32 3/4” arms at the combine, and while he didn’t test at the combine, the athleticism shows up on tape in spurts. Trevon Diggs is the brother of Bills WR Stefon Diggs, and plays the game with similar confidence.

Diggs crowds throwing windows with his long arms, and is extremely physical at the line of scrimmage in press-man coverage, disrupting receivers releases with violent, well-placed jams. He was recruited at Alabama to play receiver and safety, before transitioning to cornerback after his freshman year.

Diggs has a tendency to panic when he gets beat, forcing him to grab, or get off balance when attempting to recover. Double-moves gave Diggs some issues, as his instincts worked against him taking the bait too early in route-stems. With that being said, he used his length and athleticism to make up ground when he did get beat vertically, showing impressive recovery reps on tape as well. He showcased very good instincts, using his receiver-like skills to read route-nuances to make plays on the football and read receivers cues throughout their routes. Diggs improved immensely in 2019, with his ability to click-and-close in off-coverage, and playing the football in the air.

Diggs has one of the highest ceilings in this draft class due to the size, length, and athleticism he offers as a boundary cornerback. While there is some bust potential there because of the rawness he’s entering the league with, new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and defensive backs coaches Maurice Linguist and Al Harris are the right guys on the job to clean his technical issues up. Diggs finished as the 40th player on my board, and tied for the sixth-cornerback (exact same grade as Kristian Fulton), grabbing that guy in the middle of the second round is excellent value at a position of need.