FRISCO, Texas – After 269 days of waiting, Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs finally got make his return to the field last Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles, albeit for 26 snaps.
No matter how many snaps he got, the sixth-year corner was more than happy to be back on the field.
"It felt good," Diggs said of his return. "Thankful, blessed to just go out there and be with my teammates competing. I missed it a lot being out all the time I was, so it was a blessing just to be out there."
Throughout the whole process, it wasn't one that Diggs or the Cowboys wanted to rush given it being the second big knee injury he's suffered in as many years. His pitch count last Thursday was expected, and he wants to continue to take steps before rushing back to being on the field full-time in order to prevent another injury.
"Still working," Diggs said. "Just a little bit more [snaps] than last week is best and the smartest and safest thing to do. I feel like just increasing it a couple more plays and just working my way slowly."
The physical hurdle of recovering from knee injuries at any position in football is one thing. The other hurdle that Diggs is still clearing is the mental one, which requires being confident in your knee and playing free, and he feels that he's getting over that hurdle during practice."
"I have to be in order to get over that," Diggs said when asked about his confidence. "Just doing everything fast, putting my foot in the ground, just driving just to take that fear away and I feel like I do that in practice a lot."
Over the course of the offseason, Diggs has been able to take in Matt Eberflus' scheme off the field for the most part. Now that he's playing in it on the field, he sees it as one that mixes things up which puts players like himself in a good position.
"This defense has been really cool to be a part of," Diggs said. "Just the different coverages that we have, a lot of zone, a lot of man, corner blitzes, we've just got many coverages mixing it up and keeping an offense on their toes... I like it a lot, just being able to do the different things."
Although Diggs said they play a lot of man coverage, it wasn't on the field Thursday night. Dallas played every single drop back in zone against the Eagles, which Diggs said gave the Cowboys the best chance to win.
Diggs' ball-hawking ability has been a trademark of his career, and 16 of his 20 career interceptions have come in zone coverage, so he's good in either.
"It's a little different," Diggs said of more zone coverage. "It's more guarding space and more eleven-man football that just one on one matchups, but either one is good. It's good to have both, it's good to play a little man here, a little zone here, a little cover two here so we're not always chasing every single play."
After not sending a blitz at all in the first half, Eberflus turned to a few more pressure looks in the second against Philadelphia. Who was the first player he sent on a blitz? Trevon Diggs, which may have been the first of his career. On the play, Diggs missed the sack on Jalen Hurts, but it resulted in a throw-away.
"It just looked too good to be true. He wasn't looking at me, and I was coming full speed… and he just spun out. I was like, 'Oh, it's kind of harder than it looks.'" Diggs said with a laugh.
"I'm going to come in with a little more control next time."
Thursday wasn't just Diggs' first game back on the field after injury, it was also the first game he's played as a Cowboy without Micah Parsons as his teammate. While he misses the guy he considers his best friend, the two still keep in touch and know they've got jobs to do.
"At the end of the day, I still talk to him every day, communicate every day. That's still my brother, so it's still normal. We've still got to come to work," Diggs said. "Just because my friend's not here don't mean that I got to stop working. I've still got to come to work, I've still got to do my job. I just put my main focus into that."
In Week 2 against the Giants, Diggs and the rest of Dallas' secondary's biggest job will be second-year WR Malik Nabers. Diggs had high praise for New York's young, talented weapon.
"He's going to be one of the top wide receivers in the NFL," Diggs said. "Runs good routes, got good speed, good hands, everything, full package. It's going to be a good test for us this week, him being a great player, a veteran quarterback out there, so it's going to be fun."
The job may be more difficult for Dallas on Sunday, as cornerback DaRon Bland popped up on the injury report with a foot injury and did not participate in Wednesday's practice.
