Lions free agency mailbag: Could Quandre Diggs return to Detroit ?

NFL Free agency is not yet officially underway, but it’s still been a busy week for teams. Preparing to get under the salary cap by March 13, several franchises have started to release players. Earlier this week, a familiar face was let go by their respective team: safety Quandre Diggs.

Diggs, a former Lions fifth-round pick, has spent the last four and a half seasons with the Seattle Seahawks after former Lions coach Matt Patricia and company unceremoniously traded him away for scraps. Diggs went on to have three Pro Bowl seasons with the Seahawks, tallying a total of 18 interceptions in 72 games there.

But in a cap-saving effort, the Seahawks released Diggs this week and he is now free to sign anywhere. Could the Lions make a play for the 31-year-old defensive back?

That’s one of our first topics on this week’s free agency focused mailbag podcast. Here’s part of our conversation about Diggs.

Personally, I think Diggs would be a great talent to add to the roster, but I question whether he’d want to land in Detroit, where he may not get a full-time role.

“Is there a spot for Quandre Diggs on this roster for him to start right away? I don’t know,” I said. “I feel like the Lions would be wise to start their two really young, really cheap safeties in Ifeatu Melifonwu and Kerby Joseph.”

Erik Schlitt offers a reason for Diggs to return, but admits, too, that it’d be in his best interest to explore all of his options.

“There should be an interest from Detroit, and he should entertain the idea of coming to Detroit,” Schlitt said. “At the same time, he would be best served, for himself, to keep his options open and to look for a starting job because there are going to be situations out there that could offer him that.

“The most popular position getting cut right now is safety. It’s going to be a flooded safety market. So what we could end up seeing happen is a lot of guys getting paid and a lot of guys waiting it out. If Quandre, because of his age, is a guy that’s trying to wait it out, he might be in that second or third wave of signings. And if that happens, Detroit could come along and offer him a C.J. (Gardner-Johnson) type of deal, like, ‘Hey, I’ll give you $5 million and let you compete,’ and that might work out great.”

Other topics on this week’s podcast:

• (3:00) — Does Emmanuel Moseley’s re-signing mean anything to the Lions’ CB approach in free agency or the draft?
• (16:00) — Why we think C.J. Gardner-Johnson is likely headed elsewhere
• (21:00) — Could the Lions sign CB Darious Williams?
• (24:30) — How much would it cost to trade for L’Jarius Sneed or Marshon Lattimore?
• (35:00) — Why isn’t more focus on improving DL over CB in free agency?
• (48:10) — Who could the Lions trade up for? Who may they trade back for?
• (54:00) — Why don’t we see more 8-10 year deals for foundation players?
• (57:00) — What questions about the hiring of Brad Holmes, Dan Campbell have been answered? Are there any remaining questions?