The tough hits keep on coming. The regular season gets underway in 15 days for the Dallas Cowboys, but when they hit the gridiron, they are going to be missing one of their most dynamic and best players.
The tough news got out on Saturday afternoon about an hour and half before the preseason finale against the Los Angels Chargers that cornerback DaRon Bland is dealing with a stress fracture in his foot and is expected to be on the shelf for 6-8 weeks.
Bland will undergo surgery on his fifth metatarsal, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, after reporting soreness following the Cowboys’ final tune up while in Oxnard, California. Bland burst onto the scene in 2023 and led the NFL with nine interceptions and set a league record with five returns to the house for a touchdown to earn Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors.
“The good news is he’ll be here for let’s say the vital games of the year,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said of Bland on the 105.3 The Fan in Dallas pregame show.
Jones said the Cowboys “are in great shape at cornerback because of our young guys coming … That’s one of the strengths of our whole team is the corner position, the safety position. Our secondary is outstanding in personnel.”
Eight weeks from now would mark Week 6 of the regular season which is the final game before the Cowboys Week 7 bye. They can work through this setback in one of two ways. They could stand pat and ride things out through then, or make a trade, but obviously that remains to be seen.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs mentioned previously, Bland set the NFL record for most interceptions returned for a touchdown last season. He is tied with Rasul Douglas for the second-most interceptions across the league since 2021 with only his teammate Trevon Diggs having more.
Diggs himself is returning from a devasting torn ACL injury suffered in practice prior to their Week 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals last season and many were clamoring about the prospect of seeing the two work the outside portions of the field as a tandem for the first time. Cowboys’ fans everywhere will now have to wait for that debut. Diggs is scheduled to play September 8 against the Cleveland Browns.
The Cowboys have Diggs as well as Jourdan Lewis, who had a strong camp, working the slot. While Lewis has experience playing outside, the Cowboys could look to fifth-round pick Caelan Carson or Andrew Booth, whom they acquired from the Minnesota Vikings during training camp.
Dallas has seen rookie Carson really improve throughout camp, but has no real proven option to fill Bland’s spot opposite of him. They dealt Nahshon Wright to the Vikings in exchange for Booth and those same Vikings recently signed Stephon Gilmore who would have been a perfect fit at this point in time.
Bland is the second critical loss to the defense during training camp. Pass rusher Sam Williams was lost for the season before the team practiced in pads due to a torn ACL in his left knee.
