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Brady HendersonESPN
RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks are dealing with another hold-in situation, this time with Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs.
Multiple sources have told ESPN that Diggs, entering the last year of his deal, has been seeking an extension from the Seahawks this offseason. He’s healthy but has not practiced this week, instead watching from the sideline.
“I think he’s making a bit of a statement now, but I have nothing for you to update,” coach Pete Carroll said Friday. “He deserves to do that.”
The 28-year-old player is set to make $5.95 million in base salary in 2021, the final year of the contract the Seahawks inherited when they acquired him in a 2019 trade with the Detroit Lions. He had a $100,000 offseason workout bonus and can make another $100,000 in per-game roster bonuses this year.
“Can’t deny me what I deserve,” Diggs tweeted Thursday.
The $6.2 million average of his three-year extension from 2018 now ranks 19th among NFL safeties, according to Spotrac.com. Teammate Jamal Adams tops that list at $17.5 million per season on the extension he signed with Seattle last week.
Adams reported to training camp but did not practice until that deal was finalized Aug. 17. Left tackle Duane Brown has also been present at camp but isn’t practicing as he seeks a new deal from Seattle.
Pittsburgh Steelers pass-rusher T.J. Watt is another high-profile NFL player who is at camp but not practicing as he seeks a new deal.
The NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement stiffened the penalties for holdouts. The maximum fine for skipping training camp increased from $40,000 to $50,000 per day. Teams are no longer permitted to waive those fines for veteran players such as Brown and Diggs who aren’t playing on rookie contracts.
Carroll was asked about the trend of players approaching their contract disputes this way as opposed to the old way of not reporting to camp.
“I can’t remember what all the rules were in the past as far as guys not coming and showing up and all that in the past past, but I think this is an opportunity for players in all sports to communicate where they’re coming from and this is a way to do it,” he said. “Quandre has been great all through camp. He’s had a fantastic camp and he’s in great shape and he’s ready to go.”
Diggs made an immediate impact after he was acquired in October 2019, although hamstring and ankle injuries limited him to five regular-season games with Seattle that year. He played in all 16 games last year and set a career high with five interceptions, earning his first Pro Bowl nod.
After signing his record-setting extension, Adams was asked about the possibility of Diggs getting a new deal himself.
“He deserves it,” Adams said. “He deserves it and hopefully we can get that done. I’m not the GM, so I don’t know when. His time is going to come. They’re going to do right by him.”
However, it’s not clear whether the Seahawks are interested in extending Diggs at the moment.
As for Brown, who turns 36 next week, sources have told ESPN that the Seahawks don’t want to give him a new deal as they believe that it makes the most sense to go year-to-year at this stage of his career.
Carroll said Friday that he has no update on Brown’s situation.