The Dallas Cowboys made an unexpected and dramatic decision Tuesday, opting to release two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs just days before their final game of the 2025 NFL season.
The move instantly sent shockwaves through the league, as analysts, pundits and fans alike scrambled to interpret what this means for both the veteran defender and the Cowboys‘ future plans.
Diggs, 27, will now pass through the NFL’s waiver process and, if unclaimed, will become a free agent.
The Cowboys‘ timing, coming ahead of the regular-season finale rather than in the offseason where such roster pruning usually happens, only intensified the reaction across the NFL world.
Once one of the league’s most feared ball hawks, Diggs burst onto the scene after being drafted by Dallas in the second round in 2020.
In 2021, he led the NFL with 11 interceptions and earned First-Team All-Pro honors, achievements that earned him a lucrative five-year, $97 million extension in July 2023.
However, a series of serious injuries in the seasons that followed sapped his availability and effectiveness.
A torn ACL in 2023 was followed by ongoing knee problems and a concussion sustained this year that kept him off the field for much of the 2025 campaign.
Despite returning late in the year and appearing in a handful of games, Diggs never regained his All-Pro form.
NFL fans react to the news
“Like Ezekiel Elliott a year ago, the Cowboys release Trevon Diggs just days before the season finale,” Cowboys beat reporter Nick Harris noted on X reacting to the move, drawing comparisons to another high-profile release from the franchise.
RJ Ochoa of SB Nation suggested the decision had been looming for some time.
“Not only from when they fined him, but from when Jerry Jones publicly doubted the extension they gave him during the team’s opening press conference in Oxnard (Terence Steele, too). They were always going to move on after 2025. They basically said it point blank,” he wrote on X.
The Cowboys‘ owner, Jerry Jones, had publicly questioned the value of Diggs‘ massive contract earlier in the year, comments that, in hindsight, foreshadowed the team’s willingness to make a hard break.
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor simply reacted on X: “didn’t see that one coming!”
What this means for the Cowboys and the league
Dallas‘ decision to waive Diggs before the season finale feels significant not just because of who he is, but because of what it signals about the Cowboys‘ direction.
The team is currently 7-8-1 and eliminated from playoff contention, a disappointing outcome after years of high expectations.
By moving on from a former defensive cornerstone now, Dallas opens up roster flexibility and potentially accelerates a transition toward younger players or different defensive philosophies.
With Diggs‘ contract carrying a large cap hit that drops considerably if he is off the roster, the financial calculus also plays a role.
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