Titans defenders celebrate sack defense

Titans defenders celebrate a sack against the Carolina Panthers, Nov. 26, 2023.

 Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Titans

The Titans have further bolstered their safety position by signing Quandre Diggs, he announced via social media on Sunday.

It’s a one-year deal worth a $3 million base, with playing-time and performance-based incentives that could raise the total to $5 million, per the NFL Network.

The 31-year-old Diggs, a Pro Bowler from 2020 to 2022, will be reunited with former Seattle teammate Jamal Adams, who signed a one-year deal with the Titans on July 11.

Diggs and Adams played alongside one another for the past four seasons in Seattle, and Adams had recently expressed optimism that the Titans would also sign Diggs.

“We talk every day, every day,” Adams said of Diggs in late July. “He knows me — we’ve known each other for so long, since we were kids. I’m not going to push for him to come here. Obviously, I would love for him to be here. But he has to figure out his process on his own and he will eventually. I know there are so many teams looking at him. Hopefully we get him.”

The 5-9, 197-pound Diggs gives the Titans someone with extensive recent playing experience at free safety, something the team didn’t have on the roster in Adams, Amani Hooker and Elijah Molden. Diggs averaged about 1,000 snaps at free safety in each of the past four seasons in Seattle, playing and starting in 67 straight games during that stretch.

A sixth-round pick of Detroit in 2015, Diggs played 72 games over parts of five seasons for Seattle after the Lions traded him in 2019, recording 324 tackles, 18 interceptions and 32 passes defended.

He produced a career-best 95 tackles last season, but some of his other numbers dipped. Diggs had one interception, his lowest total since 2016, and added five passes defensed, his lowest total since 2019.

In coverage last season, Diggs surrendered 20 catches on 28 targets for 247 yards (12.4-yard average) and one touchdown, per Pro Football Focus. Opposing quarterbacks posted a 95.4 quarterback rating when targeting him. PFF gave Diggs a 55.1 overall defensive grade and a 55.4 grade in coverage.

Seattle released Diggs and Adams on the same day last March, opening up $27.5 million in salary-cap room.

This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.