The Dallas Cowboys were busy this offseason, as has been well-documented, adding players and overhauling a defense that was ranked the worst in the NFL in 2025. Six of the team’s eight draft picks were used on defensive players, starting with safety Caleb Downs at No. 11, and nearly all of the top free-agent signings and trade acquisitions were defensive players. It is possible that, depending on how positional battles work out, that seven of 11 defensive starting spots will be occupied by new players–including an unheralded addition, Cobie Durant.
Among the more high-profile moves that the team made in the March transaction period, and the subsequent April draft, it was easy to lose sight of how important Durant’s addition might prove to be. Durant is a four-year veteran who started 29 games in the past two seasons and who has seven interceptions in his career, including two returned for a touchdown.
He was added at a relative bargain deal–one year, $4 million, plus incentives.
Cobie Durant Caught Attention This Spring
Coming out of the Cowboys’ spring workout program, and with just one month to go before players report to Oxnard for training camp, Durant is one of the veterans who left an impression. That’s according to Jon Machota, the team’s beat writer for The Athletic.
Machota summed up the OTAs and mandatory minicamp recently, and wrote:
“(Cobie Durant) stood out most among the Cowboys’ corners during OTAs and minicamp. He made a highlight diving interception of Prescott in OTAs, but there were also times when Lamb got the best of him. The coaching staff has been pleased with what it has seen. Durant is expected to have a significant role with his ability to play multiple cornerback spots.”
Cowboys CB Battle Depends on Health
Now, Machota mentions that the battle for snaps in the Cowboys secondary will be one to watch throughout the summer, because the preference of the team is likely to see DaRon Bland return to form and Shavon Revel win the opposite job on the outside. Downs could slide into a slot corner role in front of the team’s deep safety group.
But both Bland and Revel are recovering from injuries and it is not clear whether they will be healthy, and even if they are healthy, if they will have returned to top form. Bland has struggled for two years with a foot injury that was again surgically repaired this winter, and Revel never really looked fully recovered from a setback to the ACL surgery he’d had in college.
Cobie Durant Could Earn Cowboys Starting Job
The Cowboys are saying both will be ready for training camp, but the play of Durant means neither will be guaranteed their starting spot in 2026. Being on the field won’t be enough. Bland, in the 12 games he played last year, allowed a passer rating of 103.3 when he was targeted by opposing quarterbacks. Revel allowed a passer rating of 126.1 in the seven games in which he appeared.
For Durant, that number was 79.2 last season. It had been 71.2 the previous season. So, yes, he will be a security blanket for more Revel or Bland injuries. But he could just win a starting job even if both are healthy.
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