Blogging The Boys
This ranking feels pretty unfair to DaRon Bland.
The Dallas Cowboys had a bad 2024 season overall. Expectations were that the team was talented enough to win the Super Bowl—maybe not, but at least compete for a Wild Card playoff spot. There’s no question the front office could have done more to set the team up better last season, but injuries played a significant role in last year's downfall.
The Cowboys seem to be paying for their woebegone year in Pro Football Focus’s annual positional power rankings of NFL players, with many from Dallas absent entirely from the lists. In their latest ranking of the league’s Top 32 cornerbacks heading into 2025, All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland was sitting at the bottom.
32. DaRon Bland, Dallas Cowboys
Bland missed the first 10 games of the 2024 season due to injury after a 2023 campaign in which he broke the NFL record for pick-sixes. His PFF advanced coverage grade wasn’t great, even though his standard PFF coverage grade over the past two seasons ranks sixth.
His 71.4 PFF coverage grade in 2024 was solid, but he failed to log an interception after his record-breaking season. 2025 should be a good indicator of whether Bland can continue his playmaking ways.
Quarterback Dak Prescott was not the only star player missing for Dallas most of the season. Bland was available for just seven games due to a stress fracture in his foot at the end of training camp. There were glimpses of his old self during games last year, particularly against Mike Evans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Bland spent most of the season regaining his footing.
Clearly, by PFF’s metrics, Bland did not have the same season he had in 2023 that made him a Defensive Player of the Year finalist. In the same list a year ago, PFF had Bland ranked as the 31st cornerback, even after his record-setting pick-six season.
The rankings seem more about ‘what have you done for me lately,’ but even in the write-up, there is a tip of the cap to who the player Bland used to be, saying, “his standard PFF coverage grade over the past two seasons ranks sixth.
Bland has proven to be one of the better cornerbacks throughout most of his three seasons in the NFL, so a down year in 2024 should not weigh too heavily against him, especially when the expectation is that he will return to form a year after his injury. Year four seems critical not only for Bland’s outside perception but also for himself financially as he heads into the final year of his rookie contract.
