He's Deion Sanders? Everson Walls? CB Trevon Diggs Wins Another NFL Award for Cowboys

With Diggs having five interceptions in four games, legendary Cowboys CB Everson Walls now has to look over his shoulder

FRISCO - Trevon Diggs and Everson Walls and Deion Sanders have some things in common. That’s come in a hurry, to the point where Walls’ team record for interceptions in a single season is now in danger.

Diggs intercepted his fourth and fifth passes of the season on Sunday as the Cowboys defeated Carolina, 36-28. And on Wednesday, the September NFC Defensive Player of the Month followed it up by being named the conference's Player of the Week.

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In picking off five passes in the first four games of the season, Diggs did something that only one other Cowboy defender had ever done. 

Trevon Diggs is the second player in team history to record five interceptions through the first four games - Chuck Howley (5, 1968). He is the 17th player in NFL history since the NFL merger to intercept five passes through four games.

— Dallas Cowboys Public Relations (@DallasCowboysPR) October 3, 2021

When Diggs picked off those passes in the third quarter, it took me back to 1981. Yes, I’m old enough to remember the greatness of Walls that season.

It’s THAT greatness that Diggs is positioning himself to challenge. And for that matter, the name "Deion'' is coming up as well. Diggs might as well challenge that one, too, right?

This Week 4 for Diggs came with only one question: He sat out the end of the game with what the team first sort of labeled "load management'' but later termed "back tightness.''

It seems as though he took a cleat to the back.

"Something like that,'' Diggs confirmed.

Either way, as odd as it looked ... keep him healthy, Cowboys. So he can chase Everson. And Deion.

And, Diggs said after the game, keep throwing his way, please.

“I don’t want them to stop throwing (at me),'' he said. Keep throwing. I want more (interceptions).”

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Walls didn’t enter the NFL with Diggs’ Alabama pedigree. (And of course pretty much nobody had Sanders' pedigree.) The Richardson Berkner product went to HBCU power Grambling State. But, like Diggs, Walls played for a legendary coach in Eddie Robinson. Diggs, of course, played for Alabama coach Nick Saban.

Unlike Diggs, Walls wasn’t drafted in the second round. Walls wasn’t drafted at all.

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Walls was another example of the Cowboys’ legendary ability to cultivate talent after the NFL Draft, led by general manager Tex Schramm and scouting director Gil Brandt, both of whom are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And, honestly, Walls should be in Canton with them.

While Deion was "obvious'' - he was right up there with Troy Aikman and Barry Sanders in the 1989 class - Walls wasn’t even taken in a 1981 Draft with 12 rounds and 332 picks. The Cowboys didn’t even draft him. But the Cowboys at least had the foresight to sign him, invite him to training camp and play him right away.

That 1981 season was magical. Walls started a bit slower than Diggs has. Walls picked off a pass in his first NFL game against Washington. Two weeks later, he picked off two against New England, and followed that with an interception against the New York Giants. By Week 4, he had four interceptions.

A two-week drought followed. But then Walls became the most dangerous cornerback in football for the next four weeks. He had two interceptions against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 7, and then he had two more the next week against Miami. Walls cut Philadelphia a break the next week, but he had two interceptions against Buffalo in Week 10.

Walls had six interceptions in four games, and by that point he had tied Mel Renfro for the most interceptions in a single season in Cowboys history.

All that was left for Walls was to pass Renfro, which he did in Week 15 with an interception against Philadelphia.

Walls had 11 interceptions in that magical 1981. He went to the Pro Bowl and led the NFL in interceptions. He was an All-Pro in 1982, when he finished with seven interceptions in nine games (that season was shortened by a strike) and he led the league in interceptions again.

What Diggs is doing right now is on that level. With five interceptions in four games, he’s ahead of Walls’ pace from 1981. Walls’ team record, one he has held for 40 years, is absolutely in danger. Diggs has not only proven to be consistently productive, but now he has shown he can produce interceptions in bunches.

Diggs is doing it in a way that is electrifying and feeds into the overall narrative for this Cowboys defense in 2021, which is ‘turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.’ This is a defense that has struggled to create them in recent years. That hasn’t been a problem to this point under defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

The Cowboys have forced 10 turnovers in four games. Diggs has five of them.

Dallas QB Dak Prescott believes Diggs is the NFL’s best cornerback.

"For sure,'' he said. "Turn on the tape. Watch what he’s doing. Watch the guys that he’s following, week-in and week-out, the best player. ... Yes, it’s easy to see.”

But, look back at 1981 and those Cowboys forced 18 turnovers in those first four games. Walls accounted for just four of those turnovers.

Just think of what happens when the rest of this defense ‘catches up’ to Diggs? And what happens if Diggs can ‘catch up’ to Walls? Or even Deion?

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You can reach Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.