$22.5M, former All-Pro named Cowboys most overrated player in 2026
Dallas may have over-invested in the position over the last several years, but this time they built themselves a smart way out.
When the Dallas Cowboys extended cornerback DaRon Bland , it was meant to accomplish several things at once. First and foremost, Jerry Jones and the front office needed to show a commitment to the roster following trading away Micah Parsons . The justification of being able to afford many instead of one had to bear immediate fruit, thus less than a week after sending Parsons to Green Bay, Bland got a new deal.
Mixed in there was the team's clear frustration with their already-paid CB Trevon Diggs, whom the club had to snatc $500k back in offseason incentive payments for lack of participation. The team was also hopeful at the time that Bland had worked through his injury-riddled 2024 and was ready to resume his 2023 form that made him a First-Team All-Pro. Only now, it looks like none of what they intended played out in such a way.
So much so, Bland was recently named as the Cowboys most overrated player entering the 2026 regular season by Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon . Dallas Cowboys : CB DaRon Bland Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark were also strong candidates with output that doesn't align with $20-plus million AAVs, but Bland is the clear-cut winner. The 2022 fifth-round pick has one good season under his belt, but that was enough to earn him a four-year, $90 million deal.
He's missed significant time while being consistently rocked in coverage when on the field the last two seasons, all as the sixth-highest-paid corner in the sport. After securing a 86. 4 coverage grade in 2023 when he hauled in a league-leading nine interceptions and returned a record five for score, Bland's play hasn't been pretty the last two seasons.