Quandre Diggs

Former Texas corner Quandre Diggs went off the board to the Detroit Lions in the sixth round. (AP file photo)

ALLEN PARK -- Quandre Diggs lined up for a play at the Senior Bowl, and saw something that looked familiar. He was at a different position now, but thought he knew what was coming.

He crisscrossed the field. He jumped the route. And the Texas defensive back picked off the pass.

It is instincts like that which prompted Detroit to take a chance on Diggs in the sixth round of the NFL draft, despite his lack of size and top-end speed.

"He jumped it, made the interception and ran it back," Lions cornerbacks coach Tony Oden said. "It's little things like that. If you can anticipate what the offense is going to do, and you can recognize it and be able to pull the trigger, even though you may not be as fast as someone else, you can react fast because you know that it's coming. He's that kind of guy."

Diggs measures just 5-foot-9 and 196 pounds. Small corners can make it in the NFL, particularly in the nickel, but they are typically elite athletes to make up for it.

And Diggs isn't that, either, with a 40-yard dash time of 4.56 seconds. That is the slowest time of any defensive back drafted by Lions general manager Martin Mayhew, who has previously said he prefers corners to be sub-4.50.

But Diggs implores you to not rule him out, despite what the measureables say.

"Don't let the speed fool you," he said. "Don't let the hype fool you. I'm a competitor, and I can go out and play the game. I can get those things done."

Diggs says he makes up for his footspeed with his instincts and intellect. He calls himself "the most intellectual player and defensive back in this draft" because of how much football he has been exposed to.

His brother is Quentin Jammer, a former All-American at Texas who was a top-five draft pick of the Chargers in 2002. He played 12 years in the league.

Jammer attended Diggs' draft party, and was the first person to congratulate him after Detroit took him.

"I have been around the game my whole life," Diggs said. "My brother played for 12 years in the league. I grew up around it. In the neighborhood I grew up, it's all about being competitive and playing football."



Diggs started 49 of a possible 52 games at Texas and finished with 11 interceptions and 37 pass breakups. He sprinkled in a little of everything, including nickelback to outside cornerback and return duties.

He projects to play the nickel with Detroit because of his size. He will be insurance for the Lions should Bill Bentley and/or Nevin Lawson not be able to fully recover from injuries that sidelined them for most of 2014. Veteran Josh Wilson was also signed at the position.

Detroit has hopes that it can develop Diggs into a contributor.

"We're very confident in our staff (to develop players), no matter what the guy has," Mayhew said. "We bring guys in here. and our staff has done a phenomenal job developing players. As we've talked about before, Darius Slay's improvement from 2013 to 2014 is evident in Tony Oden's ability to coach the position, and Teryl Austin to really coach it as well.

"So we're very confident in those guys, and they're going to do a great job with this class of guys."

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