Dynasty Scouts Player Spotlight: Stefon Diggs

Matt Caraccio Posted On August 21, 2014

Editor’s Note: This article is a Dynasty Scouts exclusive. Remember, our Dynasty Scouts section focuses on the stars of tomorrow, with a laser focus on High School recruits and College players who look to have the talent to be future assets in dynasty leagues and have value today in devy leagues.

Dynasty Scouts Player Spotlights: Stefon Diggs, #1 WR Maryland

Strengths: Strength, run after the catch ability, straight-line speed, strong hands, vision, catch radius

Weaknesses: Size, initial burst, route running, flexibility, inconsistent blocker, body catches, broken leg 2013

Who is Stefon Diggs?

The “Swiss Army Knife” of the Terrapin’s offense, Stefon Diggs is a jack-of-all-trades. A five star recruit out of Olney, Maryland, Diggs attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School where he starred at both wide receiver and cornerback. One of the most sought after recruits in the country, Diggs received offers from what could best be described as, a “who’s who” of collegiate football programs. While the University of Florida, Ohio State University and Auburn University were all given strong consideration, Diggs ultimately settled on the University of Maryland citing a desire to play for his home state.

During his freshman year at Maryland, Diggs wasted little time making his presence felt on the college football landscape, logging 1,896 all-purpose yards in 2012, which is the second most in Maryland’s history trailing only Torrey Smith’s 2,192 yards set in 2009. Diggs ranked among the top ten in the ACC that year in receiving yards (848), punt return yards (221), kickoff return yards (713), receiving touchdowns (six) and kickoff return touchdowns (two) and finished second to Duke Johnson in the ACC Rookie of the Year voting.

Last season, Diggs was well on his way to surpassing all his totals from the previous year when disaster struck in the form of a broken leg in a game against Wake Forest in late October. He would require season ending surgery. After more than nine months of recovery, beat writer Daniel Martin of recently reported that Terrapins’ head coach Randy Edsall says Diggs “…is cleared and 100 percent and ready to go”. The question now going into this season is whether or not Diggs can pick up where he left off last season.

Strengths

[inlinead]Diggs plays much bigger than his height and weight may lead you to believe. At 20 years of age, standing 6’0, 195 pounds, Diggs is a powerfully built wide receiver. With an estimated speed in the mid 4.4’s, he has plenty of big play ability. Against man coverage, Diggs is a physical receiver that possesses the body control and catch radius capable of winning in contested situations. He has strong hands, which he uses effectively at times to pluck the ball out of the air over defensive backs. It is important to note however, that at this stage of his development Diggs does body catch more often then you would like for wide receiver of his potential.

When facing zone coverage Diggs is adept at finding the soft spots in the coverage on the field. Once a weakness in the zone is identified, he works his way back towards the line of scrimmage, keeping his shoulders parallel in order to create a big target for his quarterback.

After the catch is where Diggs really shines as a prospect. First, he has outstanding vision when running with the football. In particular, he seems to have a remarkable ability to quickly diagnose the pursuit angles of defenders and forces missed tackles. Secondly, Diggs is a very balanced and tenacious runner. Arm tackles and angle tackles do little to stop him from gaining extra yards. Finally, Diggs exhibits excellent acceleration in the open field, taking only a few steps to get to full speed. In the running game, he is a willing blocker on plays towards his side of the field. He attacks defenders with good leverage and can be heavy handed in his blocks.

Weaknesses

Diggs is still a very raw prospect. While his abilities as a runner after the catch are promising, every other aspect of Diggs’s game as a receiver is underdeveloped, or inconsistent. Starting at the snap a closer examination of Diggs reveals a tendency to take false steps rather than gaining ground immediately. As a result, he simply does not yet possess the initial burst you would like to see from a next level wide receiver prospect. If you take a look at the image below, each one is a representative sample of the issues mentioned above.

diggs

In both plays pictured above, Diggs is being asked to run a route downfield. Notice in the picture on the left the difference between Diggs’s takeoff and that of his teammate below. One looks as if he is exploding downfield, attacking the defensive secondary, while the other has yet to begin. The cause for such a dramatic difference can be directly attributed to Diggs’ tendency to take false steps at the snap of the ball.

In the picture on the right we can again see Diggs’ lack of burst at the snap of the ball. Although a better takeoff than the one depicted in the example on the left, it still pales in comparison to his teammates. A good burst off the line scrimmage is one of the biggest weapons a wide receiver brings to any encounter with a defensive back. If a wide receiver is able to explode at the snap of the ball, like a sprinter firing out of the starting block, he immediately places himself in a position to accelerate throughout the vertical stem of his route. This initial acceleration is instrumental in threatening the cushion of the defensive back and creating the separation needed for a receiver to make a play. While this can be remedied at the next level, Diggs is still a work in progress at this stage of his development.

Once he is into the vertical stem of his route, Diggs has difficulty recovering from the lack of burst lost at the snap of the ball. This deficit is magnified further when the play is not going towards Diggs’s side of the field. At the top of his route, Diggs lacks explosive movement in and out of his breaks. His inability to make cuts at speed indicates a limitation in the flexibility of his hips. Even as a runner after the catch, Diggs’ success seems predicated on calculated movements using his excellent vision and elite straight-line speed. At this point it is difficult to determine if Diggs’ lack of explosive movement is a physical limitation or technical flaw. The answer to this question could determine his success at the next level.

Final Verdict

The University of Maryland made a huge splash in the world of college football when they recruited Diggs. Recognizing his elite potential they decided to feature Diggs in every facet of their offense. As a result they won more games. Mission accomplished. Now, far be it from me to begrudge a team for maximizing their potential, but from a dynasty football standpoint I would like to see Diggs play out his career at Maryland utilized exclusively as a wide receiver. Not only is he coming off a major injury last season, but also Diggs truly has not yet realized his full potential as a wide receiver. With the additional practice time allotted to working on his craft as a receiver, Diggs could elevate his game to a new plateau. No matter how the Terrapins choose to use him, he enters the 2014 season as a raw wide receiver prospect coming off a major injury. At this point Diggs is worthy of a gamble in dynasty football leagues provided you already have depth at the wide receiver position.

Follow Matt Caraccio on Twitter: @Matty_OS

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