Dallas Cowboys lose DaRon Bland: how long will he be out for?

The Dallas Cowboys’ defense has suffered a significant loss ahead of the start of the 2024 NFL season. Cornerback DaRon Bland will need surgery to repair a stress fracture to his left foot and, according to the team’s medical report, will be out of action for between six to eight weeks.

Last season’s interception leader, with nine interceptions and five of them returned to the end zone, experienced discomfort in his foot during the last week of training camp in California and, after undergoing a series of tests, a stress fracture was detected. He quit the camp on Thursday.

Bland is entering his third season as a professional. He has played in 34 games so far, 23 as a starter, and has 123 tackles, 22 passes defensed and 14 interceptions. In addition, in 2023, he finished fifth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, received his first invitation to the Pro Bowl and was part of the NFL’s All-Pro first team.

Who are the Dallas Cowboys cornerbacks?

With Bland unavailable for the foreseeable future, new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer will have to find a new starting cornerback for the first half of the regular season.

The options to start opposite Trevon Diggs are veterans Eric Scott Jr., Andrew Booth, C.J. Goodwin and rookie Caelen Carson. Diggs only played the opening two games of last season (against the Giants and the Jets) after suffering a torn ACL. He was taken off the PUP list on 30 July.

Meanwhile, the nickelback job is locked up for Jourdan Lewis; his backups are Kemon Hall and Josh DeBerry.

Dallas kick off the new NFL season on 8 September against the Cleveland Browns.