FRISCO, Texas – The Cowboys could be without cornerback DaRon Bland in the team’s Week 2 game against the New York Giants on Sunday with a foot injury, and it might sideline him for a couple weeks.
Bland popped up on the team’s injury report Wednesday afternoon with a “DNP” designation alongside his foot injury.
It is not the same foot that Bland fractured in training camp last year, which held him out of Dallas’ lineup until Week 12 of the season against the Washington Commanders. The good news for Dallas is this injury isn’t expected to be as serious as last year’s.
In his place, the Cowboys have a couple of young corners who can play in the nickel spot. The first option is second-year corner Reddy Steward, who played in just one NFL game for the Bears last season before the Cowboys claimed him off waivers on August 27 and he played in the team’s opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The other option is UDFA Zion Childress, who had a strong camp in Oxnard and made the team’s initial 53-man roster before being waived and re-signed to the practice squad. Childress can be elevated up to three times before he needs to be signed to the active roster, so if Bland’s injury isn’t expected to sideline him long, they have flexibility with Childress. He’ll likely be elevated regardless for depth purposes at the position.
On August 31, the Cowboys signed Bland to a four-year, $92 million extension that made him the sixth-highest paid corner in the NFL with an average annual salary of $23 million. Dallas believes in their young corner, who can play on the outside and in the slot.
Both Bland and the Cowboys are hoping he can return to similar form of his 2023 season, where he snagged nine interceptions and broke the NFL record for most pick-sixes in a single season with five. He knows that even though he got paid, there’s still proving he has left to do.
“It’s a new drive, new motivation to keep going out there. And now I got to prove it.” Bland said.
On Sunday, the Cowboys will face one of the league’s top young receivers in Malik Nabers and now have to do so without Bland. The second-year star out of LSU has caught the eye of guys like Trevon Diggs, who is confident in Nabers’ future.
“He’s going to be one of the top wide receivers in the NFL,” Diggs said of Nabers. “Runs good routes, got good speed, good hands, everything, full package. It’s going to be a good test for us this week, him being a great player, a veteran quarterback out there, so it’s going to be fun.”
