Dallas City News

Cornerback Caelen Carson has been hyped up since the Cowboys drafted him in the fifth round last April. With starter DaRon Bland about to miss the early part of the season with a foot injury, Dallas needs that hype to be validated as the rookie is about to take on a key defensive role. Thankfully, we’ve seen late-round CBs step up before in their first seasons.

After strong showings in the offseason practices and training camp, Carson had risen to the fourth spot on the CB depth chart behind Bland, Trevon Diggs, and Jourdan Lewis. It wasn’t much of an upset; veterans like Israel Mukuamu and Nahshon Wright had yet to emerge and the rest of the contenders weren’t much more experienced than Carson. And while the fourth corner does have to play at times, it was a comfortable spot to have the rookie behind the strong primary trio.

Bland’s injury is a game-changer for the secondary and Carson. Not only will the rookie be playing in the nickel, which is now the most common defensive formation in the modern NFL, but he may even be starting across from Diggs in the base 4-3 scheme. While Lewis is far more experienced, he’s better out of the slot than the outside. We’ll see how defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer ultimately chooses to use them but there’s a good chance Carson will be starting games until Bland returns.

If that makes you nervous, that’s certainly reasonable. Most rookie starters are a cause for concern and particularly at a position like cornerback, where simple mistakes can lead to huge plays. But while Carson’s expected field promotion could be a liability, there is some recent precedent that might help us feel better. In fact, we needn’t look any further than the guy he’s replacing.

Despite having 14 interceptions in two years, an All-Pro nod, and breaking the NFL record for pick-sixes in a season, Bland was just a fifth-round pick himself in 2022. He quickly leapfrogged higher-drafted prospects like Wright and Kelvin Joseph to become a primary backup and ended up starting eight games as a rookie due to injuries. He had five picks that year, mostly playing the slot, and earned that role the following year. But when Diggs got hurt in 2023, Bland had to move outside and that’s where he became a household name with all of his interceptions and touchdowns.

Of course, expecting Carson to be on Bland’s level now or ever is unwise. That’s like expecting a late-round QB to be Tom Brady. It’d certainly be lovely, but Dallas doesn’t need Carson to be a superstar to still field a competitive defense. At the very least, especially in his rookie year, they could settle for a far more attainable precedent in former CB Anthony Brown.

A sixth-round pick in 2016, Brown also got pulled into early duty after injuries to Orlando Scandrick and Morris Claiborne. He started nine games as a rookie and helped Dallas go 13-3 that year. While never a star, Brown remained a capable backup and occasional starter for six more seasons. He was far more than the team could’ve expected from such a late-round selection.

Naturally, we’d love Carson to be more on the Bland end of the spectrum. But if the best we get is another Anthony Brown, that’s still a guy you can win with. The rest of that 2016 defense was hardly what the Cowboys have now, whether it’s Diggs and Lewis as Carson’s fellow corners or a guy like Micah Parsons terrorizing people at the line of scrimmage. Carson’s opportunity is much more akin to Bland’s in 2022 than Brown’s eight years ago.

As always, the player now has to do his part. Caelen Carson has been lauded as a steal when drafted, and as a stud throughout the summer. Hopefully, that translates to the regular season because now he’s needed in a big way. If he can at least give the Cowboys what Anthony Brown did as a rookie, let alone DaRon Bland, they should be able to weather the storm until their starter returns.