Enemy Reaction Special Edition: Seahawks trade for Quandre Diggs

The Seattle Seahawks didn’t win their last game, but somehow I ended up with an Enemy Reaction this week thanks to the generosity of the Detroit Lions.

In a surprise move, Detroit traded safety Quandre Diggs and a 2021 seventh-round pick to the Seahawks for a 2020 fifth-rounder. By most accounts, Diggs was a well-respected teammate and a pretty effective player during his time with the Lions. We don’t know how he’ll fit into Seattle’s defense, but I do know that Lions fans are ultra pissed off about this trade — even more so than when the Houston Texans gave the Seahawks Jadeveon Clowney.

...So let’s go around the Lions web-o-sphere and take in the angry takes!

---

Pride of Detroit

Reddit

Twitter

Youtube

Even-keeled analysis (EricLionsFan)

The rant (Manbeast Morris) - Warning: lots of bad language

Post-Trade: Lions inexplicably trade away Quandre Diggs (Steven Mullenax, Side Lion Report)

Diggs started in five of the Lions’ six games so far this season, recording 20 combined tackles, no pass defends, and no picks. Detroit has also drafted a safety with each of their third-round selections the past two seasons, Tracy Walker and Will Harris. And their ascension is certainly a catalyst for this move.

The trade was also likely motivated by money. Diggs is under contract through 2021. According to Spotrac.com, he is scheduled to make over $10.5 million combined the next two years. Although that’s not a massive price tag for a starting NFL safety, if you honestly believe you have someone better sitting on the bench, it can be an issue.

Still, trading a starting safety like Quandre Diggs, who is only 26-years old, for a fifth-round selection feels like Detroit got swindled here. The Seahawks get themselves an ascending player with starting experience whose coming off a career year. While the Lions lose a starting defender who is beloved in the locker room after just sending their starting running back to IR all while attempting to climb out of the NFC North basement with a 2-3-1 record.

Post-Trade: Why the Lions traded away Quandre Diggs (Kyle Meinke, MLive.com)

The Lions should be in a better position to weather Diggs’ departure, with Tracy Walker playing well in his first season as the starting free safety. Tavon Wilson has been around four years, and around Matt Patricia in New England before that too, so he can step into an expanded role right away. And then there’s Will Harris, this year’s third-round pick. He’s been up and down in his rookie season, and more will certainly be expected of him now.

You rarely get better right away by trading a starting player, and that’s what Diggs is. His exit thins out the depth at one of Detroit’s better positions, and with the Lions already struggling to get off the field, there is certainly work to be done going forward.

But it’s not like the Lions are losing the Diggs of old either. He just hasn’t been the same, and the club doesn’t believe it’s injury related either. Maybe he could have figured it out, but the Lions made the calculation they were better off with the extra draft pick and cap space, especially considering the depth they’ve developed elsewhere at safety.

Now it’s up to them to prove they’re right.

---

We now returned to your regularly scheduled Enemy Reaction, which should involve the Seahawks laying waste to what is left of the Atlanta Falcons.

Right? RIGHT?!

Thanks for reading and go ‘Hawks!