If there is one area that the Dallas Cowboys have obviously needed to clean up, even going back to training camp, it has been the cornerback situation. The team’s plan this year appeared to be based mostly on hope, that is, the hope that DaRon Bland could recapture the form that led him to nine interceptions and an All-Pro selection back in 2023, as well as the hope that a healthy Shavon Revel, who spent much of last year recovering from an ACL surgery and a subsequent setback, would prove worthy of the third-round pick the Cowboys used on him in 2025. It was a thin plan all along, and the Cowboys only added Cobie Durant as their lone new corner in the room.
A quick check on how it’s going: take Pro Football Focus grades however you will, but as of Week 8, Bland is rated as the 88th corner in the league, out of 97, and Revel is No. 92 of 97. Durant has been out with a hamstring injury since Week 2.
DaRon Bland in $90 Million Contract
The Cowboys deserve credit for acting aggressively when an opportunity presented itself, trading for Joey Porter Jr. from the Steelers earlier this month. Porter has shown himself to be a shutdown corner thus far, but the problem for the Steelers remains that the rest of the room is still based on the hope that Bland can bounce back on the opposite boundary.
On Friday, team owner Jerry Jones was asked during his appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas what he thought of Bland’s underwhelming performance this season. Given the fact that he handed Bland a $90 million, four-year contract a year ago, Jones was sticking with hope.
Cowboys’ Jerry Jones: ‘He Can Do It’
Asked what made him think that the Cowboys could still get starting-caliber play from Bland, Jones meandered–he seemed to overlook that the foot injury Bland suffered two years ago might have sapped his ability, and stuck with the notion that Bland could bounce back because he was a good player before.
Said Jones: “When you’ve seen a player do it, and you’ve seen him do it multiple times, then you know he can do it. And there’s not a diminished talent level because of age or years played, and that’s not the case with him, then you know he can do it again, it is a question of getting in the scheme, coordinating, communicating.
“I know you hear that till you’re sick of it. But that’s what it is about. That’s why that area has a real chance to get better as we go on in the season, and therein lies my optimism. We’ll get better because those repetitions will make us communicate better and make it more effective.”
But Bland struggled in 2024 after hurting the foot, and again in 2025 when the foot was hurt again. He had a surgery to fix it last winter, but the results say that the ship has sailed on DaRon Bland, All-Pro corner. Jones might hope it is a communication thing–but the problem appears to be well beyond that.
Cowboys’ Jerry Jones Sends Confusing Message on Struggling Starter