In a somewhat perfect bookend of the 2025 season, the Dallas Cowboys offered another lifeline, and the Green Bay Packers took it. Months after completing a trade with the Cowboys for All-Pro defensive end Micah Parsons, the Packers claimed cornerback Trevon Diggs — once one of the NFL’s most prolific turnover-creators — off waivers from the Cowboys on the Wednesday of Week 18.
This is not to say Parsons and Diggs are in the same tier of NFL player. They are not. But the Packers saw an opportunity to add to an experienced player to an ailing and disappointing group of cornerbacks before the postseason and pounced, much like general manager Brian Gutekunst aggressively added one of the NFL’s best defensive players in a blockbuster trade before the start of the regular season.
The Parsons move made the Packers a Super Bowl contender. The Diggs move is a Hail Mary attempt to help save a sinking season.
It seems everything coalesced to get Diggs to Green Bay. The Cowboys surprisingly waived him this week, opening the door. The Packers lost Nate Hobbs and Kamal Hadden to season-ending injuries on Saturday night, decimating the team’s cornerback depth. Throw in the sharp regression in coverage from Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon over the second half of the 2025 season, and the connections between Diggs and Parsons (who are close friends) and the Packers and agent David Mulugheta (who represents Parsons, Jordan Love, Xavier McKinney and Matt LaFleur), and the Diggs arrival in Green Bay almost made too much sense not to happen.
Whether the Diggs acquisition ends up changes anything for the 2025 Packers is up for debate.
While Diggs intercepted 17 passes during his first three seasons, he has only three picks between 2023 and 2025. This season, Diggs has allowed 16 catches on 20 targets into his coverage, resulting in 286 yards, three touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. He’s only been targeted 20 times in 265 coverage snaps, making him one of the NFL’s least targeted cornerbacks, but when quarterbacks have tested Diggs, they’ve usually found big plays. He’s allowing 17.9 yards per catch in 2025.
Even at his best, Diggs is a boom-or-bust coverage player who hunts interceptions at the expense of giving up big plays. Being thrown on a Packers defense that no longer has Parsons because of a season-ending injury and has struggled to disrupt the quarterback could be a tough match for Diggs.
Then again, the Packers are no longer a dominant defense without Parsons and must now rely on noisy outcomes — like turnovers — to stay alive. In theory, Diggs could help. He is a former receiver who catches the turnover-worthy throws into his coverage. Even a small uptick in turnover possibility — consider that Nixon, Valentine and slot cornerback Javon Bullard have combined for all of one interception this season — could be very important for the Packers in the postseason.
On Tuesday, the Packers signed cornerbacks Jaylin Simpson and Shemar Bartholomew from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. On Wednesday, the Packers moved receiver Bo Melton back to cornerback. This is a team desperate for help at the position.
Considering the relatively small financial risk of this addition, the obvious question becomes: Would the Packers rather have Simpson, Bartholomew, Melton or Diggs on the field in a big spot in the postseason? The answer is probably too obvious.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Instant analysis of Packers claiming former Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs
Reporting by Zach Kruse, Packers Wire / Packers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
