Former Alabama cornerback clears hurdle toward playing again

Former Alabama cornerback Trevon Diggs passed his physical exam and has been moved from active/physically unable to perform to the active roster by the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL team announced on Sunday.

Diggs missed six games last season with a knee injury and had chondral bone graft surgery in January. He has been on the PUP list since training camp started, and the designation has kept him from practicing with the team.

By moving to the active roster, Diggs can begin practicing with his teammates. It also puts him on course to open the regular season on the Cowboys’ 53-player active roster.

Each NFL team can have 90 players on its roster during the preseason, but that number must be down to 53 active players by 3 p.m. CDT Tuesday.

There is a regular-season PUP list, but it is inactive/PUP, and players placed on it must miss at least four games.

Dallas plays in the first game on the NFL’s 2025 regular-season schedule on Sept. 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

In a video title “To My Fans” released on his YouTube channel on Wednesday, Diggs said he didn’t expect to be ready for the Week 1 game.

“I’m probably about a month from being where I want to be to be able to go out there and perform,” Diggs said. “I feel good as far as like running, cutting, jumping, doing my DB drills. Everything feels back to normal, you know? I just need to get a little bit stronger. I feel like I’m going to take this month just to train with (personal trainer) Myron (Flowers), get stronger, get as strong as I can, stronger than I was before, just to sustain that throughout the whole season. So, that’s my plan. That’s my plan going in for the next month -- getting stronger.

“And I’m going to try to come back at least by Week 2, Week 3. You know, that’s my goal that I got set. That’s what I got circled on my calendar, so I got to make sure that I do everything I can just to make that happen for me.”

The Cowboys’ second game is set for Sept. 14 against the New York Giants.

A second-round draft pick by Dallas in 2020, Diggs was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2021 when he led the NFL with 11 interceptions. He earned Pro Bowl recognition again in 2022 before injuries affected his past two seasons.

In July 2023, Diggs signed a five-year, $97 million contract extension. But Diggs played in only the first two games of the 2023 season before a torn anterior cruciate ligament caused him to miss the rest of the campaign. Last year’s ailment affected the same knee and caused Diggs to miss six of the Cowboys’ final seven games.

In July, Dallas reduced Diggs’ base salary for the 2025 NFL season from $9 million to $8.5 million.

Diggs’ contract required him to participate in at least 84.375 percent of the offseason program at the Cowboys’ facility or have his salary reduced by $500,000. Other than the three-day mandatory minicamp, Diggs was hardly there, choosing to undertake his rehab work with personal trainers and physicians rather than those on the Dallas staff.

On Saturday, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer praised Diggs’ work toward returning to the field.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about how hard Trevon’s been working,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s doing an incredible job with (Dallas director of rehabilitation) Britt (Brown). These things don’t happen if he’s not putting in the time and the effort to do the stuff that he’s been doing. Really proud of him.”

Diggs described the rehab process in his YouTube video.

“Physically, I feel like it’s been a lot of work,” Diggs said. “A lot of work, a lot of hours I put in just to get back to where I want to be, get back to being on the field. …

“It’s a process, you know? Every day having discipline, doing the work, putting the work in just to get to where I need to go. So it’s been a lot of work, but I’m thankful for it. I embrace the work, so it’s been good, and I’ve just been enjoying it. Enjoying the process and trusting the process, for real.”