Dallas Cowboys star cornerback Trevon Diggs underwent knee surgery on January 23, 2025. This marked the second time in just over a year that Diggs would end his season early due to injury. Initial reports indicated Diggs’ injury “was not related to the torn anterior cruciate ligament Diggs suffered in practice” in 2023.
Yet again, Diggs would face an uphill battle and a lengthy rehabilitation process to return to his former All-Pro level of play. That’s when Dr. Sharif Tabbah of Alkeme Sports RX in Florida reached out to Diggs, hoping to assist him on his road to recovery despite the two never meeting prior.
“This is our first time working together,” Tabbah said over the phone. “Honestly, I reached out to him after seeing you know the news, and the media was talking about him having to miss the whole next season. I knew it was gonna be a big rehab. I’m sure it weighed heavy on him, so I had reached out to him… kind of started the conversation right away, and was like, this is who we are, this is what we do. Look at the kind of people we work with, and and you’ll know ask CeeDee [Lamb] about us. I think I could really help you and hopefully speed up this timeline a little bit.”
Tabbah has experience working with various athletes and NFL players during the offseason, including Cowboys All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. When Diggs first arrived, Tabbah could feel he was itching to take it to the next level and desired to move quickly. Overcoming the frustrations of recovery can be challenging for any athlete to endure, but as they have moved through the process, Diggs’ personality has started to show, and getting a lot of smiles and positivity from the Cowboys’ corner.
The goal is simple: Help Diggs return to playing football at a high level. Before the injury, Diggs had back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons and a historic season in 2021, leading the NFL with 11 interceptions. His play on the field earned him a five-year, $97 million contract extension, making him one of the highest-paid players at his position.
The goal may be simple, but resisting the urge to press the rehab acceleration button is challenging. Following proper protocols and exercising patience are two of the most important things to remember when approaching rehabilitation like this one. Hence, a definitive return date is not currently on the table.
“I think it’s way too early to to talk about that,” Tabbah said. “We have a lot of steps ahead of us in this protocol in terms of restrictions, just to protect everything that’s been done, and make sure that everything takes and and really creates the permanent change that we want, as well as of course, we have to overcome lots of weakness and things like that from from inactivity. So it’s too early to say on that side so we’re taking it day by day.”
So, what does Diggs' typical day look like at Alkeme Sports RX? Below are two videos Tabbah took of Diggs working with a bosu ball and applying weight-bearing action, which is a milestone in the process of being able to do an activity like this.
“Both of them are on the Bosu ball. So that’s a half ball for balance, and the goal there is to create co contraction stability. Which means he has to understand where he is in space, and figure out what muscles need to kind of contract and work together, contracting, relaxing, you know, as as perturbations occur, as his leg is kind of shaking on there and be able to create that stability again. After eight weeks of not weight bearing, it takes time to not only tolerate the force through the leg, but get that coordination back and get that stability and that balance and that confidence in the leg...
...The first day we did it, it was just like standing on it with one leg, and there was a massive challenge. Arm on my shoulder to just stand there, and then we worked it into step ups and then into lunges, and then the squats touching the cones, and that’s just getting progressively more range of motion and and a bigger working range that is, stressing the joints out through that stability through a greater range of motion.”
In a long recovery process like this, there are bound to be bad days that coincide with the good. Having family and friends support you during those difficult times is beneficial to dealing with the mental health side. Fortunately for Diggs, his brother Stefon is working with Tabbah under the same roof as they try to return from their knee injuries, even though they are on different timelines in the recovery process.
Tabbah says both Diggs brothers are checking in on each other’s progress and keeping tabs through conversations with Tabbah. Their time at the facility can overlap a little here and there, but as they progress through the summer, the hope is that Trevon can get to work alongside his brother and the other athletes.
Athletes will use anything as a tool for motivation and push themselves in more harrowing moments. For Diggs, part of his motivation is to lock in when the camera is on and to make sure his workouts look great when things are rolling.
“He [Diggs] likes to document a lot of what he’s doing, and and see how he looks,” Tabbah said. “He’s pretty forward about posting stuff on his story every day about how his progress is from day to day and he always wants to get everything recorded. So we’re doing some exercises that are challenging for him, and as he’s stepping up, showing him this new version that we’re gonna add a band and all these things. And he’s like ‘here’ and hands me his phone. I said, Well, why don’t we get a couple of reps in to make sure this thing looks okay, and you don’t look crazy. He’s like, ‘No, no, the camera makes me makes me lock in more. Makes me work harder, because now, I gotta make sure I look good.’
And I’m like, okay. So, that’s that competitive side being like kind of like lights, camera action. You know it’s go time when the camera’s on.”
Two months does not seem like a long time, but Diggs has made strides in rehab post-surgery. The little victories add to much bigger things, like feeling confident enough in the knee to break on an interception in the game. Those moments are what Tabbah enjoys most about the job: Helping players reclaim their identities as athletes.
“There’s nothing better to me than taking athlete from like their lowest point, and then not only getting them back to themselves, but getting them back to like 110 percent of themselves. I always say that to to my guys, I don’t want to get you to a hundred percent. I want to get to you at 110 percent...you might have spent so many months doing all these little exercises working on these little details, these little muscles, the stability, the balance, the correctives. Then we start adjusting your form with mechanics on running, and the way that you start your sprint, and the way that you carry yourself in your upright max velocity, and all these different things, and all of a sudden you actually come out better on the back end than you ever were before the injury, and that’s really, ultimately the goal.”
Diggs’ timeline for returning to the football field remains uncertain. The hope is that while he works at Alkeme Sports RX this summer, things will become clearer as the Cowboys prepare for training camp. If Diggs can reach 110 percent of the player he was before, then the star corner won’t have to worry about handing his camera to someone else to record; the camera will find him.