The Denver Broncos do not have to make every trade for a player that becomes available, nor do they have to sign every free agent that becomes available. However, weighing the pros and cons of signing a 27-year-old former Pro Bowl player is something that's going to be happening in 31 front offices around the league.
The Dallas Cowboys shockingly waived cornerback Trevon Diggs before the final week of the 2025 regular season, which will allow Diggs to potentially catch on with a new team for the playoff run. To say that Diggs has been disappointing since his Pro Bowl season back in 2022 would be an understatement, and there are a lot of layers to that story.
The Cowboys and Diggs have had ongoing drama for a long time now, which has been publicly aired out by Jerry Jones himself. But with no guaranteed money beyond this year, Diggs's availability has created a complicated situation for the Denver Broncos and many others.
Broncos may need to consider putting in a claim for Trevon Diggs after shocking release
The Broncos have one of the deepest cornerback groups in the NFL right now. Trevon Diggs would not be filling some massive need in Denver right now, but in the game of "Monopoly" that is the NFL, Diggs is an asset that could yield positive returns in the future.
Is it worth committing the nearly $500,000 to Diggs right now? The Broncos' lack of need at the cornerback position actually might make them make even more sense to put in a waiver claim.
The money is of no consequence to the Broncos, who have the most cash-rich ownership group in the league. There is no future cash commitment to Diggs at this point, so putting in a waiver claim would be all about going after someone with the idea of making him a reclamation project, or potentially trading him in the offseason for other assets.
The Broncos have Pat Surtain II on the roster right now, who was teammates with Diggs with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Not that Surtain is consulted on roster decisions, but they could get some good intel on him and see if the juice would be worth the squeeze.
Diggs has been a 1st-team All-Pro in the past. He's got 20 career interceptions. The fact that he has no guaranteed money left on his contract beyond this season complicates the discussion a bit. If there were guaranteed money left, it would be an extremely easy "no" at this point for the Broncos, maybe even for most teams.
But the Broncos have the luxury of taking a risk like this right now. The roster has enough players on IR to be able to use a 53-man roster spot on a reclamation project like this, and the opportunity to rehabilitate his value and potentially trade him (or play him) in the future is something that can't be completely ignored.
At this stage of the season, and for the cost, it might be worth taking a relatively risk-free shot on Diggs if the team feels like the juice is worth the squeeze. The fact that there is no guaranteed money on his deal beyond this year takes this from an immediate "no" to something that might be worth a shot.
And the Broncos have the locker room structure to potentially help Diggs turn his career around, after it seemingly tok a turn for the worst in Dallas.