Quandre Diggs says Lions traded him out of desire to 'control voices in the locker room'
Quandre Diggs may not have been as shocked at the trade deadline as he initially led on. The safety told reporters he was “blindsided” when he woke up from a nap to find the Detroit Lions traded him to the Seattle Seahawks last month.
Diggs, 26, was a team captain, had signed a three-year deal in the offseason and was playing through hamstring injuries. But in an interview with Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press on Thursday, he admitted it wasn’t “totally unexpected because things were not great” in Detroit and he believes control was an issue in why the Lions shipped him.
Diggs says trade ‘more of a control thing’
Diggs was traded at a time when the Lions weren’t yet out of contention in a tight NFC North race. It came as a shock to most, including Lions cornerback Darius Slay who called it “bull—.” To prove how odd of a move it was, the 2020 Lions calendar features Diggs on the cover.
[Watch NFL games on your phone for FREE with the Yahoo Sports app]
Lions head coach Matt Patricia said after the trade it was to make the team better in the long run and it was a “very difficult decision.” Diggs provided more insight, giving the Free Press his thoughts on why the Lions would think to trade him.
“I think it was more of just a control thing. Them wanting to control the locker room. Control the locker room, control voices in the locker room.”
He was asked what wasn’t going great in Detroit, and told the Free Press:
“Just me being the person I am. I’m a vocal guy, so when you’re vocal and when you’re competitive, I’m a competitive guy. I’m competitive as s—. I hate losing. I go and I put my body on the line every week doing hella treatment, doing all these other things and at the end of the day it didn’t work out.”
Diggs reiterated he holds no ill will toward the franchise and appreciated the city, owner, team and executives.
Diggs hints at more coming out about Lions
Diggs has heard the mentions that he wasn’t playing well with the Lions — he had 20 tackles (17 solo) in five games — and dismisses them.
He told the Free Press he won’t get into controversy in the middle of the season, but “at the end of the day, it’ll come out.”
“Well, … I also wasn’t put in the position that I was put in last year when I was making plays. It’ll all come out in the end. Like I say, played through injuries, trying to change my personality to fit more in with the program and it changed me as a player, it changed me as a person but at the end of the day I’m just happy to be free and I can be myself and go out and play football or play winning football.”
The former sixth-round pick in 2015 switched from slot cornerback to safety due to injuries and made the Pro Bowl as an alternate last season. He had 78 tackles (64 solo) and three interceptions, including a pick-six.
Diggs could play for Seahawks this week
Diggs was still dealing with a hamstring issue when he was sent to Seattle and had blood drained from it last week. He took his first practice reps with his new team on Thursday.
Seahawks (7-2) head coach Pete Carroll said there’s a shot he plays in Monday night’s game against the undefeated San Francisco 49ers.
Meanwhile, the Lions have now lost four of the past five after a 2-0-1 start. At 3-4, this week’s game against the Chicago Bears (3-5) will determine which team is most likely to have a shot at the Packers and Vikings.
That’s only a shot, though. The Packers lost only their second game of the season last week and the Vikings are creeping behind at 6-3.
More from Yahoo Sports:
