ARLINGTON, Texas -- The 2024 NFL season is a new year for every team, but for the Dallas Cowboys, it's the third in a row in which a starting cornerback suffered a significant injury.
Nickel cornerback Jourdan Lewis suffered a Lisfranc foot injury in 2022, and two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs tore his ACL in practice prior to Dallas' Week 3 game at the Arizona Cardinals last season. Now, 2023 First-Team All-Pro DaRon Bland, last season's NFL leader in interceptions (nine) and the league's single-season record holder for pick-sixes (five), will miss the next six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot.
With just over two weeks remaining until the Cowboys kick off their 2024 regular season in Cleveland against the Browns on Sept. 8, Dallas owner and general manager Jerry Jones is anticipating Bland's return to be sometime between Weeks 5 and 6. That's a timeline he views as "good news."
"Well, I'm glad it's not for an extended period of time," Jones said after the team's preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday. "We lose him four or five ball games. I go though that pretty quick and pretty cavalier. It's not cavalier, it's [the injury] serious, but the good news is we're going to have him for the meat of the deal. That's the good news."
Bland has maintained his same, steady attitude and outlook on life according to his teammates despite the setback.
"Yeah, he is an even-keeled guy," Lewis said of Bland. "You got to know DB, he is going to stay the same regardless. That's how he plays and how he lives his life. He is going to be even-keeled. He knows that he is going to get back and when he does, he's going to be a very high performer."
Lewis dealt with a foot injury himself, albeit a slightly different one with it being a Lisfranc injury. His advice to Bland is not avoid checking out from football, emphasizing the importance of mental reps.
"Just stay in it though, so just stay in it. Just keep watching football as much as you possibly can, especially us [the Cowboys]," Lewis said. "Just don't feel like you're out of the loop or anything like that. Just go out there and if you can mentally just take those reps and see what you would have done in different situations. Just staying in tune with it and being ready when you it's your time and you're physically able [to return]."
There are a handful of established, veteran cornerback options who are currently free agents like four-time Pro Bowler Xavien Howard, 2010's All-Decade Team member Patrick Peterson and former Patriots Super Bowl-winning corner J.C. Jackson, to name a few. Any of them could be brought in to help lessen the blow of Bland's injury. However, Jones adamantly declared he doesn't have an eye toward what's out there, instead choosing to emphasize his own young talent.
"Not at all," Jones said when asked if he is going to look outside the team for cornerback depth. "Not in any way. No, not at all. The good news is we've got some guys that have really shown well in camp. We won't be looking at all."
After hitting on both two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft and Bland in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, Jones is happy enough with what he's seen from Carson to hope for similar, early production from 2024 fifth-round pick cornerback Caelen Carson out of Wake Forest. Both Diggs (2021) and Bland (2023) led the NFL in interceptions and earned first-team All-Pro honors in their second years in the league.
"I like the fact that he's [Carson] playing at the level he is for how long a time in the NFL, which is not much," Jones said. "He is certainly going to get a great opportunity to fill in here. We've had a couple guys come in here and do pretty well the last three or four years as a rookie cornerback. So maybe he'll make All-Pro."
When Carson, who was held out of Saturday's preseason final versus Los Angeles, initially heard the news, he was feeling down.
"It sucks because DB is like my brother and one of the guys, so it's terrible news," Carson said postgame on Saturday.
Lewis, who is entering his eighth NFL season in 2023 all with the Cowboys, can empathize with Bland since his significant injury was also in his foot.
"I feel terrible man," Lewis said when asked how bad he feels for Bland. "He was definitely primed for another really good year. So it definitely feels bad that it's been derailed like this, and he had really good camp, a great camp. He was getting the ball, and he's just fighting and going through everything. The rigors of camp, and he was fighting. It definitely feels terrible that he's missing some weeks. At the end of the day, we're still getting him back and hopefully he'll be ready by Week 4 or 5."
After processing the shock of the news that Bland is going to miss the first few games of the 2024 season, Carson turned toward being focused on making the most of the chance to be a Week 1 starter as a rookie fifth-round pick.
"Just make the most of every opportunity," Carson said. "Take notes from DB and Tre[von Diggs] and some of the older guys and just make the most of the opportunity."
Bland himself first ascended into the starting lineup as a rookie fifth-round pick after Lewis, the starting nickel corner, suffered a foot injury in 2022, and now Carson will have the chance to do the same thing. Carson doesn't care as much for that comparison, instead focusing on fast-tracking his adjustment to facing NFL talent every day instead of the skill level he faced in college at Wake Forest.
"It's always a learning process, but at the end of the day, football is football," Carson said. "It is what you make so, it's going to be football."
Carson hasn't had the chance to have an in-depth chat with defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer since the news came out, but Carson feels comfortable playing on the outside opposite Diggs as a starter if that's what Zimmer decides Carson's role will be with Bland out. His confidence rose when he hauled in his first interception in the early weeks of camp prior to the joint practices with the Rams out in Oxnard, CA.
"I feel like I am a confident guy. I feel like I earned the right to play," Carson said. "I showed that I can play on this level. So whatever happens happens. ... I knew I could do it [play in the NFL] regardless, like when I was in college. But of course, those [interceptions in camp against teammates and the Rams] are the moments that make you feel like 'you got this.'"
Caelen Carson red zone interception on the goal line against Jimmy Garoppolo pic.twitter.com/txCdBkwjU9
— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) August 8, 2024
The rest of the defensive back room is focused on inundating Carson with their knowledge across the next 15 days before their 2024 season begins.
"Just give him the game," Lewis said when asked how to best help Carson. "Just understand what it takes to be one of the best DBs in the NFL, how you approach it every week. Not get too high, not get too low. Just understand good plays come with the bad and just go out there and perform your techniques. Al [Harris] does a great job with the corners. Tre[von Diggs] is going to be a great mentor because he gets the ball. That's something that Caelen can go in there and step in and do."
Both Bland and Diggs have already provided Carson with "the game" early in his rookie year.
"Yeah, I think both of them guys [Bland and Diggs], the way they approach the game is kind of similar," Carson said. "For Trevon, he's been giving me pointers and telling me different things I can pick up on."
Carson's teammates already feel that the rookie possesses a solid grasp on Zimmer's playbook with two weeks remaining in the offseason.
"He [Carson] understands the defense," Lewis said. "He understands what we want to do. He understands what he needs to do on the defensive end and is always prepared. It feels like no moment is too big when we're practicing against the Rams [in a joint practice in training camp] or he's going against Dak. He's just going out there and competing. At the end of the day, that's all you can ask for from guys."
Lewis credited assistant head coach and defensive backs Al Harris, a two-time NFL Pro Bowl corner himself, for how the Cowboys cornerback room has lived out the football cliche of "next man up" the last few seasons.
"Coach Al and [safeties coach] Cannon Matthews, they do a great job teaching us the techniques and you going out there and playing, top tier caliber football regardless of whoever is out there," Lewis said. "They do a great job teaching us the techniques and things like that and what they want from us. Guys just going out there and just taking it and going out there and applying it. We definitely have the talent to do it but those guys help us a lot as we prepare."
Now Carson will begin preparing to face former Cowboys No. 1 wide receiver Amari Cooper, a five-time Pro Bowler, as well as another former first-round pick in wide receiver Jerry Jeudy and former second-round pick wide receiver Elijah Moore in Cleveland.
"It's definitely a challenge man," Lewis said. "We definitely talked about it, but that's definitely a great welcome to the league moment. I had mine though. I had Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders [who caught two touchdowns in a 42-17 Denver Broncos win in Week 2 of 2017] and those guys. It wasn't an easy out for me either. It's definitely going to get him ready. It's definitely a good thing that he's going to go up against some of the best talent in the league as soon as he gets his first opportunity. It's definitely a measuring stick and something he can learn from as the season goes on."
Lewis is still counting down the days of having the entire cornerback room healthy between himself, Diggs, Bland and Carson as the 2024 offseason starts to transform into the 2024 regular season.
"It hasn't been like that for awhile, but I just reiterate Coach Al and Coach Cannon what they teach us, our technique and our play style can't drop off. So, I know they're going to do a great job with that, but it's terrible we can't have that [defensive] backfield in there [on the field.]"
