Cowboys, Jerry Jones avoid Micah Parsons repeat by re-signing All-Pro CB DaRon Bland ahead of Week 1
Frisco, Texas-Jerry Jones and Dallas Cowboys avoided a significant headache in their secondary by re-signing the All-Pro 2023 Daron Bland half-board to An extension of $ 92 million over four years Before training on Sunday afternoon.
Bland, who was described by the Cowboys Dak Prescott quarterrier as “not your most talkative guy” on Sunday, would not have been as public as Rusher All-Pro Edge Now started Micah Parsons Not to appreciate the entry of the last year of its recruit agreement which lacks long -term security. However, it could have been a big problem in camera this season because of its potential role.
“It is [entering a contract year] Always something that you must have in the back of the mind a little because it was the last year of my contract, so it was always going to be at the back of my head, “said Bland after training on Sunday.” Yeah [it was important to get it done]. “”
After the departure of the longtime nickel corner of Dallas Jourdan Lewis at the Jacksonville Jacksonville in this off -season, there was a gaping hole there. Bland began his career as a fifth round choice in 2022 to fill an injured Lewis, and he played in this place, in shock in five interceptions – tied to the fifth largest number of the NFL this season. He prospered by moving outside the corner in 2023 for the player of Bowler Trevon Diggs after the latter tore his ACL in the practice of week 3 that year: Bland broke out for nine interceptions at the head of the League, five of which were the six choices – the record for a NFL season. He also aligned himself outside in 2024, but it seems that Bland will have to return to the slit in 2025 with Lewis out of the image once Diggs will make his season debut.
The New Cowboys Cornerback Kaiir Elam, a first -round choice of Buffalo Bills in 2023 which was acquired by Dallas in a profession during the offseason, was one of the best interpreters of the off -season of the team out of the team. However, Elam is much more suitable for playing outside, so when Diggs returns to action after his last knee injury in 2024, Bland will probably have to return inside this year.
This will probably be the best for cowboys on the ground in 2025, but it would not have been ideal for contract negotiations. Chicago Bears Nickel Corner Kyler Gordon, who was signed on a $ 40 million contract over three years in 2024, is the corner of the NFL’s best paid location, but his average salary of $ 13.3 ranks 21st among all the corner half around the league. The extension of Dallas that they granted the Bland a few days before the season prevents this headache because it is now ranked sixth in the NFL among the corners on average per year ($ 23 million). Of course, head coach Brian Schottenheimer denied that it would never have been a problem when CBS Sports asked him about the subject on Sunday.
Micah Parsons would have considered by certain Cowboys teammates as “selfish, egocentric” before the Packers trade
Brad Crawford
“Well, we were going to be versatile with him, whatever happens because it is the type of competitor that Daron is. Daron never said” hey, I’m not going to play nickel, I’m not going to do this “,” said Schottenhe. “He considers himself an elite corner.
When CBS Sports asked Bland himself if it was easier to go back inside after being paid, he hosted his head and started his answer with the word “yeah”.
“Yeah, now that the contract [is done]It’s a new reader, “said Bland.” A new motivation to continue going out and now I have to prove it. “”
Since Diggs and Elam of Elam have been better suited to the outside, and that the flexibility of Bland’s interior skills provides, the cowboys had no problem making it one of the six best paid tops in the NFL. His ability to play like this led Schottenheimer to invoke the seven-time pro-comparison of pro-corsey pro-corsey corner to his peak in good comparison for the schematic flexibility he offers to cowboys.
“It’s huge. Number, it gives us the versatility and multiplicity that we want. We can change different groups of staff. For a game appellant, it can be very difficult,” said Schottenheimer. “Because [at] Sometimes, is it like where it was? It was like that for a long time with Jalen Ramsey. He is inside, he is outside, he travels, he does not travel. I think that’s what is so powerful for us. This is not even that, it is good in both, which is really cool. Sometimes there are guys who are really good corners outside and nickels ok. It is not. It is really good inside. He proved it as a recruit. He proved it this year. It is also very good on the outside covering the guys. It’s just a huge advantage for us. It’s a good blitzer, it’s a good plateau. The cover skills speak for themselves. As I said, it’s just invaluable. “”
Associating this versatility with Bland’s “ball skills” which have resulted in 14 interceptions since 2022, tied to the second largest number of the NFL in the space of his career, which is why the Cowboys had no problem putting him from the agreement they concluded despite the 10 games of 26 years last season. He underwent a stress fracture the last week of the training camp in 2024, but he rebounded to offer a regular game in the cover of what was a 7-10 campaign plagued by injuries. Schottenheimer attributes certain Bland instincts before unraveling football to accumulate interceptions to the former defensive player of the year of the NFL, Stephon Gilmore. Gilmore played in front of Bland as the other outdoor corner in 2023 during the All-Pro season of the old fifth round choice.
“Yeah, he has incredible ball skills, but I also think he has incredible instincts. His ability to study the game and his knowledge of the game for a young player, relatively young, are strange. Like his ability to read divisions and anticipate routes and things like that, I still think of Stephon Gilmore,” said Schoterheimer. “These guys as they get older and they may lose a little or something, so they have to learn to read divisions and things like that, but Daron has always had the ability to treat things very quickly. Then, he certainly has an elite change of steering and ball skills, which is why the interceptions and the choice of six years occurred.
Removing football is obviously the greatest value that a defender can provide in the NFL, but that does not mean that Bland has still not been shocked to see the latest terms of his new agreement by signing it on Sunday.
“A little surprised and a little stupid.
Yes, he may have been “stunned”. However, Bland’s approach to his contractual negotiations with Jerry and Stephen Jones was intelligent. Parsons took bait when Jerry Jones has launched financial terms, and now he’s on Green Bay packers. Bland, like Prescott, reported the Jones family to his agent.
“It was especially my agent and the cowboys who communicated,” said Bland.
This is why Cowboys teammates can now approach Prescott and Bland on how to survive extension discussions With the Jones family and go out on the other side paid while living in Dallas.
“Proud of him. Super deserving. A guy who comes from every day, not your most talkative guy, but who is leading with his actions, leads with this approach,” said Prescott after training on Sunday. “One of the easiest guys, if you try to understand what I should do here, look for and see what DB does. I guarantee you will take you in the right direction. This is a huge declaration for these young people.
Now the goal for Bland is to determine where its long -term position is.
“I would say that last year, even then, I still did not have my official role, somehow still in motion. Second year, I was still a nickel, so I thought I was going to be a nickel,” said Bland, “Tre ended up injuring myself, so I went back outside. He is therefore completely tried to find a real place for me.”
Now it is prudent to say that it is not the biggest problem in the world for the Bowler player: the position chaos is his normal. Bland said he did not know where he will line up on the Super Bowl Lix Eagles champion on Thursday evening in Philadelphia to launch the 2025 NFL season.
“I don’t know yet,” said Bland with a little laugh. “I guess we will see at the time of the game. … You familiarize yourself in chaos. After facing it, you got comfortable and you understand what things come with it.”
