RENTON
When Tyler Lockett found out his best friend was joining him in Seattle as the newest Seahawk, he did what everybody under the age of 30 these days would do.
He FaceTimed his pal, of course.
It was actually a call back.
“Tyler was the first person I called as soon as I found the news out,” Seattle’s new safety Quandre Diggs said Wednesday of getting traded from the Detroit Lions the prior day. “We talked about this before. We’ve spoke about, if we could be teammates...
“Just having the opportunity to be around these guys, it’s a great team here, a great organization.
“I just like to be around great people with great vibes.”
When Diggs made his first call, specifically to tell Lockett the news the Lions had traded their captain and starting safety to the Seahawks, his best friend didn’t answer. Diggs called Lockett two times. He got nothing but ringing each time.
Lockett wasn’t as thrilled as his buddy with the news?
“Quandre called me twice and I didn’t answer. I was doing an event with (Bellevue-based home builder) Quadrant Homes,” Lockett said.
“My dad called me and then I called my dad back first and he was like, ‘You know you guys just got Quandre?’ That’s when I saw that John Schneider said, ‘We got your boy Diggs!’”
Diggs said Lockett told him he was thinking: “Quandre never calls me twice, so it had to be something.”
It was something.
“(So) I called him on FaceTime. Was happy. Was thrilled,” Lockett said. “Never knew that he would be up here, besides us playing against each other. Just the fact that he’s up here now makes it even better. It’s another home away from home. Just to be able to have another really good friend here to be able to grow with you along the way and continue to push each other together, it says a lot.”
Lockett is four months older than Diggs. Lockett played collegiately for Kansas State. Diggs played at Texas, K-State’s Big 12 Conference rival.
But that’s not how they know each other.
It’s through Lockett’s uncle, Aaron Lockett; Aaron’s nephew broke all his receiving records at K-State. Aaron Lockett is close with Quentin Jammer, through football. Jammer is a former University of Texas cornerback who played 11 seasons for the San Diego Chargers through 2012.
Jammer is Diggs’ older brother, by 13 years.
“We always knew about each other just growing up,” Lockett said of Diggs. “I always heard stories about him whenever he was at the University of Texas and he would hear stories about me when I was at Kansas State.”
Lockett and Diggs didn’t hit it off so splendidly. Not right away.
“It always started off competitive. At first, it was kind of like that competitive niche to where we didn’t really like each other as much,” Lockett said, “because we were always having to go against each other in everything that we did when we were in college.
“Then we signed with the same agency, had a good time with that. Ever since we signed with the agency, we got to know each other like all that different type of stuff.
“It’s just crazy how it’s a small world, how his brother and my uncle were really good friends—and now, we became best friends.”
Diggs needs one out here in Seattle.
He was jolted by Tuesday’s trade. It came out of nowhere, “blindsided me,” Diggs said.
It’s not every day an NFL team trades one of its co-captains and veteran starters for the relatively low return of a fifth-round draft choice a year after giving him a rich, long-term extension.
But that’s what Detroit did to their starting safety for the last three seasons on Tuesday. They sent him to a Seahawks team that needs front-line safeties, pronto. As in, for Sunday’s game at Atlanta.
Diggs had to leave his girlfriend of six years he met at Texas, Abby Evans, and their three-month-old daughter, Ariya Marie. He and his baby girl were taking a nap when his agent called telling him he’d been traded.
They are for now still back in Michigan, while Diggs starts a new life in Seattle. And he had to leave his best friends, the Lions teammates who such as cornerback Darius Slay who posted on Twitter after the trade of their captain: “This is some bull **** here.”
After one day reunited, Lockett has already made Diggs’ transition to Seattle smoother. So have defensive end Zigg Ansah and fullback Nick Bellore, two former Lions teammates of Diggs who this season joined the Seahawks.
“It makes it a lot easier,” Diggs said. “I come in the locker room and see familiar faces around.
“For me, it makes it a lot easier.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2019 7:22 AM.
