3 Seahawks who must step up to replace Jamal Adams after ‘serious’ knee injury

Quandre Diggs

Jones and Neal may be direct replacements for Jamal Adams, but they are not the only players who will have to step it up in his absence.

The other half of Seattle’s Pro Bowl safety duo, Quandre Diggs, will have to sustain excellence in 2022 to follow remarkable 2021 and 2020 seasons.

Ever since Diggs has joined the Seahawks roster from the Detroit Lions, he’s been a powerful impact player, and his performance on Monday night didn’t disappoint. Diggs logged six total tackles, one tackle for a loss, and forced a fumble that Mike Jackson recovered to keep the game out of reach for Denver.

There’s a reason Diggs moved up from No. 77 to No. 72 in the latest iteration of the NFL Top 100 and why he’s considered one of the league’s top safeties.

Unlike Jones and Neal, Diggs is far beyond battling for playing time, but what will be influenced by Adams’ injury is how these two worked together in tandem.

Describing it as a “really creative defense,” Adams spoke to what he was looking forward to at June minicamp this summer coming off his second shoulder surgery. “You can disguise everything, you can move around, I can be in the box sometimes, I can be in a back end sometimes, I can be blitzing, whatever the case may be.”

Diggs was also coming off a surgery from a Week 18 injury to his leg. As they work on the field, Diggs and Adams spoke in unison with Seahawks writer John Boyle. Diggs foreshadowed a defense with disguised coverages that would allow both safeties to be harder to read, giving the Seahawks defense an edge:

"“It’s multiple with the different coverages you can run and make it all look alike. You can do a single-high shell and run different coverages, you can do a two-high shell and run different deals. You can’t tell which safety is in the box, which safety is not in the box. I think it’s going to help both of us. Guys can’t automatically tag (Adams) and say he’s in the box and he’s blitzing and slide his way…. You don’t know the coverages, you don’t know what we’re in, you don’t know what checks we have. I think that’s going to be dope.”"

Diggs and Adams barely had a chance to showcase what they spent the summer practicing, but Diggs will have the opportunity to team up with Jones and Neal as Adams heals up.