Seahawks re-sign Quandre Diggs, have NFL's highest-paid safety duo again; also Sidney Jones, Al Woods

Pete Carroll knows what he likes and he actually has the ability to afford it right now

On Monday, I posted PHASE I of my Seahawks 2022 rebuilding plan and one of the huge keys for Seattle that I mentioned was re-signing safety Quandre Diggs. He’s the type of player who could still be helping the Seahawks out at a high level in three years and that’s the exact amount of time that Seattle has locked him down for: Ian Rapoport reported this morning that the Seahawks have re-signed Diggs to a three-year, $40 million contract.

Ian Rapoport @RapSheet

The #Seahawks have agreed to terms with one of their: Safety Quandre Diggs gets a 3-year deal worth $40M, source said. Seattle retains a key defender.

That gives Quandre Diggs an APY of $13.3 million, which is a significant discount from what I had projected on Monday: four years, $66 million with $34 million guaranteed. That would have been a $16.5 million APY that would’ve placed Diggs in the top tier of safety contracts by that measure.

A $13.3 million APY puts Diggs in ninth place among safeties (Jamal Adams is first at $17.5 million), just ahead of the $12.9 million franchise tag that the Cincinnati Bengals placed on Jessie Bates III this year.

The deal also gives the Seahawks the highest-paid safety duo in the NFL for the first time since… Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor were the highest-paid safety duo in the NFL.

Clearly safety is something more important to Pete Carroll than to most other head coaches and Diggs checks all the boxes as a free safety since being acquired in 2019 for day three pick swap with the Detroit Lions. Could this mean anything for Adams’ future?

Field Gulls @FieldGulls

Report: Seahawks, Quandre Diggs agree to terms on a new deal.

fieldgulls.comReport: Seahawks keeping Quandre DiggsWhen the Seattle Seahawks traded for Quandre Diggs during the 2019 season, he transformed the defense instantaneously, with the performance of the secondary improving in a heartbeat. However, a...

One thing that Seattle could focus on next season with Adams is turning him back into a pass rusher and accepting that his role is better served in the front-seven than in the deep secondary with Diggs. Now that the Seahawks have locked in their free safety, I believe tight end (update: Seahawks re-sign Will Dissly) and running back (Rashaad Penny) are next, with my other priorities being Sidney Jones and Rasheem Green.

What’s your four-word response to the Seahawks re-signing Quandre Diggs?

By the way, Seaside Joe hit the 300 subscriber mark this morning, so that means that I will be doing a FREE AGENCY AMA (Q&A) later today. Get your questions ready and tell your friends to hit this:

Update: Seahawks also re-sign Al Woods. I didn’t have re-signing Woods in the plan but I CERTAINLY would not have argued against it.

Field Gulls @FieldGulls

Report: Al Woods is sticking around

fieldgulls.comReport: Al Woods is sticking aroundThe news cycle was not kind to fans of the Seattle Seahawks in the week before the start of free agency, with the team moving on from two of its biggest stars. First there was the trade of Russell...

Update #2: Seahawks re-sign Sidney Jones, as I had predicted they would

Mike Garafolo @MikeGarafolo

The #Seahawks are bringing back CB Sidney Jones, source says. Last season was by far his most productive for him, with a career-high 16 games played.