3 Cowboys players sure to improve in 2022 season

Trevon Diggs will be more than just an interception magnet for the Cowboys

In just his second season since Dallas selected him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Alabama, Trevon Diggs was certainly not a stranger to making headlines last year. He ended up leading the league in interceptions with 11, three more than the second-placed J.C. Jackson on that statistical leaderboard.

However, the advanced analytics community and many people watching the film saw something from Diggs that the 11 takeaways masked. Put simply, he wasn’t a consistent coverage presence that he often needed to be. In fact, PFF (subscription required) graded him out as just the 80th-best corner out of 116 qualifying players last season.

That creates a conflicting narrative for Diggs in which he hauls in interceptions but isn’t as effective as those numbers would say. Part of that is due to his play-style and the way defensive coordinator Dan Quinn asks him to play. However, it could also be a product of the other corners around him and the pressure that puts on Diggs to make plays.

With second-year player Kelvin Joseph likely to see a bigger role in the 2022 season, though, I believe we’ll see a more well-rounded performance from Diggs. Yes, he’ll still gamble to make plays and force tunrovers at times to varying results, but will have the opportunity to show off his athletic traits and skills as a more consistent player when it comes to just stopping a play, even if it doesn’t result in a turnover.