DALLAS — Trevon Diggs is having a record-setting season with the Dallas Cowboys.
The former 2020 second-round cornerback from Alabama has matched Everson Walls for the franchise record for single-season interceptions with 11, and there are still two games left in the regular season.
Diggs has a chance to set a new single-season total for the Cowboys and a shot at a new overall record since the start of the 1970 AFL-NFL merger (13, Lester Hayes, 1980).
Fellow 2020 draft mate, receiver CeeDee Lamb, had a sense that Diggs was poised to have a monster season as far back as late July during the grind of training camp in Oxnard, Calif.
"Just battling against him all through camp and understanding what we were trying to do — we were trying to be great, like I said," Lamb told reporters Dec. 29. "Since the beginning of training camp is when I realized that he was going to be one of those guys.”
The Cowboys took Lamb with their first-round pick at No. 17 overall. A dynamic player such as Lamb falling to Dallas allowed them to play with house money for the rest of the draft, and a first-round talent in Diggs was available at No. 51 overall in the second round.
As the top two players in the Cowboys' seven-man class, Lamb knew that he had a responsibility with Diggs to perform as top players on Dallas' roster, even though they were rookies.
"When we came in together, I told him we have a lot of pressure on us," Lamb said. "So, we got to go in and be the best that we can, and that we did, and obviously I’m proud of him. I tell him that just about every week. He knows it. It’s understood between us, and I’m cheering him on. He knows it.”
Diggs' ability to track deep balls and come up with interceptions has the coaching staff referring to 50-50 balls in a whole different way.
"I think that a lot when it does go up to his direction," defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said. "To say ‘Okay, we’ve got a shot here.’ And then he’ll constantly impress me with some ones that I didn’t think were there that he had chances to go get. When it’s 50-50, I don’t think of it as 50-50 when the ball goes up with him in a truly one-on-one scenario.”
Diggs has a chance to add to his interception total against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17 at AT&T Stadium. Lamb will be cheering Diggs the whole way, and the Pro Bowl cornerback knows it.
Do you think Diggs will make the All-Pro team at season’s end? Share your thoughts with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.
