Quandre Diggs, who has a reputation for making big hits, is happy to play safety but just wants to play anywhere on the football field.
Quandre Diggs doesn’t care where the hits come from, only that they come. And only that he’s on the football field. Anywhere on the football field, in fact.
The Detroit Lions third-year defensive back got his first start at safety last week, when he switched from nickel cornerback to replace injured Tavon Wilson.
“It’s cool,” Diggs said Friday. “I just play football. I don’t care where I really play. I just want to go out and play every snap.
“That’s basically where I’m at. It’s cool, I’m enjoying it. But it’s still just football at the end of the day.”
Diggs isn’t big at 5-feet-10, but he’s got a giant reputation for monster hits, something that helps him playing strong safety.
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“He has a pretty good striking posture,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “He can close ground on you. He gets you on the ground. I think he had five tackles last week or something like that, but that’s been a strength of his.”
Nothing is set in stone, but Diggs’ move to safety wasn’t just a one-game tryout.
“No,” Caldwell said, “it’s always been something that we’ve kind of knew he could do for us if we had any difficulties in that area. So he’s always been part of our thought process there.”
Diggs wasn’t perfect, but he made five tackles and made a key pass breakup on third down against Jeremy Maclin.
“When you play up, or you play out as a corner,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said, “and then you move back, sometimes things are a little different. But he can handle it.
“I thought he did a good job last week in his first appearance playing full-time in that position. So, we’ll continue to move forward with it.”
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Diggs said the big difference between nickel corner and safety are the different angles he has to take to defend receivers and make tackles.
“I just have to work on my angles and make sure that my angles at safety aren’t the same as nickel angles,” he said. “That’s about the only difference.”
This week, Diggs will have his hands full trying to thwart the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with big quarterback Jameis Winston, and big-threat pass catchers Mike Evans and Cameron Brate.
“Jameis is a great player,” Diggs said. “We’re the same class. He’s grown a lot in the past few years. You know he’s going to compete. He has a good group of receivers, a good group of tight ends.
“So we just have to get after those guys a little bit and go out and play football and have fun. It’ll be a good challenge for us.”
Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.
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