Cowboys CB DaRon Bland sends cleats, gloves to Canton; keeps record-setting ball

From @ToddBrock24f7: The humble CB says all of his interception balls are in a box, just waiting to be put into a display case. That case keeps getting bigger.

Attention, Dallas-area craftsmen and carpenters. DaRon Bland needs a trophy case built. There’s one small caveat, though: the measurements for that case keep getting bigger by the week.

The Cowboys cornerback set an NFL record on Thursday when he became the first player ever to return five interceptions for touchdowns within a single season. And while the second-year man still has six games to go in which to build even further upon that mark, the record-breaking pick-six cemented Bland’s place in football history.

To commemorate the feat, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has requested some of Bland’s game-day equipment to display in Canton.

Bland sent the size-14 cleats and gloves from the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day victory to the Hall. But the ball he snatched out of the air and returned 63 yards for the final points of the 45-10 win? That’s not going anywhere. Bland says he’s hanging onto that piece of league history.

“Yeah, definitely,” Bland told reporters this weekend, flashing that ever-present smile. “Got to.”

The 24-year-old is amassing quite a collection of souvenir balls. He led the Cowboys last year as a rookie with five interceptions. He has seven so far in 2023; no one has more since the beginning of last season than Bland, a fifth-round find by Dallas out of Fresno State.

The five passes he stole as a rookie are at home. This year’s interceptions are kept by the team until the end of the season. The picks are racking up so quickly that Bland hasn’t even figured out how or where to display them.

“No idea yet. Got to find a place for all of them,” Bland grinned. “All the balls are still in a box right now.”

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Bland was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for last Sunday’s performance versus the Panthers, when his 30-yard pick-six of a Bryce Young pass tied the NFL record. Now his name has entered the Defensive Player of the Year conversation, too.

Just more hardware that would have to be stuffed into that planned trophy case. Might want to build it extra-large, just to be on the safe side.

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