GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Trevon Diggs was claimed by the Green Bay Packers on Wednesday, a day after the Dallas Cowboys waived the 2021 All-Pro cornerback.
This move enables Green Bay to boost its injury-riddled secondary by taking a chance on a two-time Pro Bowl selection seeking a career reset.
Diggs had an NFL-leading 11 interceptions and earned All-Pro honors with Dallas in 2021. He earned a second Pro Bowl selection the following year.
But his production dipped from there as he dealt with two major knee surgeries.
Diggs played six games this season before sustaining a concussion in an accident at home on Oct. 16. Diggs didn’t explain the cause of the injury to reporters until two months later, when he said he got hit in the head by a mounting pole while trying to install a TV.
Even after Diggs returned from concussion protocol, he remained off the field and ended up missing eight games. The Cowboys attributed his delayed return to issues regarding his knees.
After Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland suffered a season-ending foot injury, Diggs returned to action and played against the Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Commanders.
Though Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer reiterated that Diggs' departure was a culmination of issues and not triggered by one incident, the move came five days after he didn't return from Washington with the team.
The Cowboys played the Commanders on Christmas and had three days off after that Thursday meeting. Schottenheimer said other players asked to make their own travel arrangements going home and were told no. The coach said Diggs didn't ask until the team was in the locker room after the 30-23 victory.
“It was one of many factors. It was not the only factor," said Schottenheimer, who briefly benched Diggs during the six games he played to start the season after the team withheld an offseason workout bonus because Diggs went through rehab on knee surgery with his own training staff away from the facility.
“I’m not the Grinch that stole Christmas, OK? I love Christmas. I love my family. But at the end of the day, we got a protocol we go through, and the process was not followed.”
Schottenheimer disagreed with the suggestion that he never connected with Diggs in his first season as a head coach after a quarter-century as an NFL assistant. The son of the late NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer takes pride in his relationships with players.
“Believe me, I don’t make these (decisions) casually,” Schottenheimer said. “We didn’t sit down and say, ‘Hey, Trevon didn’t take the plane.’ No, it wasn’t that. It was a culmination of multiple factors. And hey, this might be great for Trevon. Go find a permanent home. That’s my hope for him is that he does that.”
Green Bay needed a boost at cornerback after placing Kamal Hadden (ankle) and Nate Hobbs (knee) on injured reserve this week. Both players were knocked out of the Packers’ 41-24 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.
The Packers did sign cornerbacks Shemar Bartholomew and Jaylin Simpson from their practice squad to their active roster on Tuesday.
Heading to Green Bay reunites Diggs with injured Packers defensive end Micah Parsons, who was acquired from Dallas just before the start of the season. Parsons and Diggs are good friends who exchanged jerseys after the Packers' 40-all tie with the Cowboys earlier this season.
Green Bay (9-6-1) carries a three-game skid into its regular-season finale Sunday at Minnesota. The Packers have clinched a playoff berth as the NFC’s No. 7 seed.
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Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs (7) defends on Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston (1) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs (7) warms up before an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs (7) walks along he sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
The Trump administration has said it is freezing child care funds to all states until they provide more verification about the programs in a move fueled by a series of fraud schemes at Minnesota day care centers run by Somali residents.
All 50 states will be impacted by the review, but the Republican administration is focusing most of its ire on the blue state of Minnesota and is calling for an audit of some of its centers.
Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement Wednesday that he was “exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding.”
It is unclear how much more robust the verification process for states will be than it already has been.
Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill called the decision a response to “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country” in a social media post announcing the change on Tuesday.
Here are some things to know about these moves:
All 50 states will have to provide additional levels of verification and administrative data before they receive more funding from the Child Care and Development Fund, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson. However, Minnesota will have to provide even more verification for child care centers that are suspected of fraud, such as attendance and licensing records, past enforcement actions and inspection reports.
In his social media post on Tuesday, O’Neill said all Administration for Children and Families payments nationwide would require “justification and a receipt or photo evidence” before money is sent, but the HHS spokesperson said Wednesday that the additional verifications only apply to CCDF payments.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said in a social media post that fraudsters are a serious issue that the state has spent years cracking down on but that this is a political move that is part of “Trump’s long game.”
State Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy condemned the move in a statement Wednesday.
“Republicans are playing sick games and winning devastating prizes,” Murphy said. “And now, tens of thousands of Minnesota families will pay the price as Donald’s Trump’s agents strip away crucial funding.”
The administration launched efforts in recent weeks to track down fraud in other programs in Minnesota and is looking at fraud in blue states such as California and New York, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday.
The administration will continue to send officers to investigate “potential fraud sites” in Minnesota and deport undocumented immigrants, Leavitt said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security is considering plans to denaturalize citizens.
The Department of Labor is also investigating the state’s unemployment insurance program, Leavitt said. The administration this month threatened to withhold SNAP food aid funding from Democratic-controlled states, including Minnesota, unless they provide information about people receiving assistance.
The announcement came a day after U.S. Homeland Security officials conducted a fraud investigation in Minneapolis, questioning workers at unidentified businesses. Trump has criticized Walz’s administration over the cases, capitalizing on them to target the Somali diaspora in the state, which has the largest Somali population in the U.S.
In his post Tuesday, O’Neill, who is serving as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referenced a right-wing influencer who posted a video last week claiming he found that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud.
Meanwhile, there are concerns about harassment that home-based day care providers and members of the Somali community nationwide might face amid the vitriol, including Trump's comments earlier this month referring to Somali immigrants as “garbage." Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown released a statement saying, “Showing up on someone’s porch, threatening, or harassing them isn’t an investigation. Neither is filming minors who may be in the home.”
Maria Snider, director of the Rainbow Child Development Center and vice president of advocacy group Minnesota Child Care Association, said fear is rising among both families — many of which are living paycheck to paycheck — and child care centers that rely on the federal funding. Without child care system tuition, centers may have to lay off teachers and shut down classrooms, she said.
In Minnesota, the application process for the funding is complex and multilayered, Snider said. Her own child care center has been subjected to random audits, she said, and all centers are required to submit to licensing visits by officials.
“I don’t know what else I would provide,” she said.
Ahmed Hasan, director of the ABC Learning Center that was one of those featured in the video by the right-wing influencer, said on Wednesday that there were 56 children enrolled at the center. Since the video was posted, Hasan, who is Somali, said his center has received harassing phone calls making staff members and parents feel unsafe.
He said the center is routinely subject to checks by state regulators to ensure they remain in compliance with their license.
“There’s no fraud happening here,” Hasan told The Associated Press. “We are open every day, and we have our records to show that this place is open.”
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Kramon reported from Atlanta and Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland. AP Videojournalist Mark Vancleave contributed from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and AP Writer Margery Beck contributed from Omaha, Nebraska.
CORRECTS LAST NAME ABC Learning Center director Ahmed Hasan stands in the infant room at his daycare center, in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
People gather for a news conference at the state capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Giovanna Dell'Orto)
ABC Learning Center director Ahmed Hasin stands in the infant room at his daycare center in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
Children watch television at ABC Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
FILE - Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, June 12, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - State Sen. Michelle Benson reacts at a news conference on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul to a report by the state's legislative auditor on combatting fraud in Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski,File)
