FRISCO – A major injury dashed some early aspirations for the Dallas Cowboys’ 2024 campaign just as the preseason was coming to a finish. Due to a foot injury, DaRon Bland is expected to miss the first half of the season, which will postpone his and Trevon Diggs’s expected secondary tandem. In his absence, Diggs will have to rely on Jourdan Lewis, Caelen Carson, and Andrew Booth to help shoulder the weight. While Carson’s impressive offseason and Diggs’ fame offer some short-term consolation, this defense will face challenges in the early going due to Bland’s absence.
Given the availability of one large name, some have suggested the Cowboys look to the free agent market for assistance in that area. Xavien Howard, the former cornerback for the Miami Dolphins, is still without a team. This week, Matt Holder of Bleacher Report proposed that Dallas look into adding the veteran. Our own Mike Fisher of CowboysCountry.com responded sharply to that suggestion. “With DaRon Bland beginning the campaign on injured reserve and thus, missing at least the first four weeks, the Cowboys will be without one of their ballhawks in the secondary,” he wrote.
“Howard’s legal troubles might provide a challenge for any team hoping to acquire him. On the field, though, the eight-year veteran may be Bland’s greatest option at this point given his 39 career interceptions and 95 passes defended.”
Fisher, a 35-year veteran beat writer for the Cowboys, has responded with a robust rebuttal. “What we used to call ‘Second-Chance Valley Ranch,’ and owner Jerry Jones’s penchant for rehab projects and risks,’ have their place and time,” he remarked. That is not what this is. At age 31, his talent is ebbing. Dallas’s depth at the corner has grown. Above all, he is charged with sending sexually suggestive videos to the adolescent son of a mother who declined to have an abortion. “Before we bring a repulsive bottle of purported poison into this locker room, why do not we let him settle that?”
It could be relieving to have a seasoned ballhawk like Howard, but at what expense? Particularly Carson, who is younger and has undeveloped talent, Booth and Zimmer might fit well in coordinator Mike Zimmer’s scheme. This week against Cleveland, Carson will get the start, and the team has a great deal of faith in him. … especially if you are troubled by supposedly “disgusting” behavior. With the development the Cowboys wish to undergo with their young prospects, there becomes little reason to turn for outside help.
