DaRon Bland didn’t see any defensive snaps at all in five of his first six games as a rookie. But the fifth-round draft pick has certainly made up for lost time since then.
After another interception Saturday night against Philadelphia- his fourth in the month of December and his fifth overall- the 23-year-old cornerback now finds himself atop the Cowboys’ interceptions leaderboard, ahead of even Trevon Diggs, last season’s NFL pick king.
“I think Tre might have a little competition on his hands now,” joked linebacker Micah Parsons after the team’s 40-34 win over the Eagles. “I’m going to start questioning who’s really CB1 just to spark his mindset.”
But that may not be the only accolade the Fresno State product collects when the dust settles on 2022. Bland is even drawing discussion as a candidate for this season’s Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, the award Parsons himself won by unanimous vote last season.
“DaRon’s doing this thing,” Parsons raved. “I couldn’t be more happy. And it’s always great to see another rookie come in and step up the way that we’ve seen in the past couple years for us. The work he’s put in, the way the guys took him in has been great for him.”
Bland’s increased opportunities, admittedly, have come because of others’ misfortune. Jourdan Lewis and Anthony Brown suffered season-ending injuries; Kelvin Joseph’s cringeworthy performance against Jacksonville in Week 15 moved Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to call for an open competition at the position.
Bland may have ended that competition with his critical fourth-quarter pick of Gardner Minshew, a takeaway that turned into the Cowboys’ go-ahead score.
DaRon Bland took it away from him for the INT!
📺: #PHIvsDAL on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/Gd75wOq015 pic.twitter.com/UK3UFzb4bW— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2022
“In the fourth quarter, each time we came out there on the field, we were just thinking, ‘There’s one more play. One more play. We’ve got to make one more stop to get the ball back and give the offense the ball.’ That was our mindset,” Bland told reporters after the win.
“Any time the ball is in the air, I think it’s mine.”
Diggs has turned into one of the league’s superstars with that exact approach; now Bland may be on the same trajectory.
He’s certainly impressed his head coach.
“I think what DaRon Bland has done as a rookie is- I’m trying to think back through my time,” Mike McCarthy explained to media members. “To have that kind of impact, you know, never playing inside, getting your start inside at nickel and then moving back outside… I can’t say enough about our young guys.”
Bland’s five interceptions make him the first Cowboys rookie in two decades to reach that number in his debut season; Roy Williams and Derek Ross both had five picks in 2002.
And now Bland is the latest youngster to carve out an early reputation for himself around the Cowboys facility, even in a room full of defensive playmakers.
“DQ has a takeaway wall we all sign,” Parsons shared with reporters. “If you create a takeaway and if you recover a takeaway, you get your picture on the wall in the defensive meeting room. And right now, the room is full of pictures.”
The Cowboys defense leads the league in takeaways, and that’s in no small part one of the reasons the offense has averaged 36 points per game since Dak Prescott’s return from injury.
“When they’re able to do that, we’re going to win some games,” Prescott said from the podium Saturday night. “It just gives us more opportunities at it. Short fields. Sometimes it was touchdowns, and a couple of times it was a field goal. Those guys are relentless; they are trying to go after the ball every which way, trying to get after the quarterback, interceptions, fumbles, and that just comes from the way that we practice, the way that they prepare. It was good to see them just go out there and get that done and help us out.”
And with that sort of team-first mentality, it’s perhaps no surprise at all that a fifth-round rookie who wasn’t a Week 1 starter is helping lead the way.
It’s definitely no surprise that Bland gives the credit to the guys around him.
“My teammates make me have that confidence in myself. That’s it.”
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