Dallas City News

We are at day 26 of our 99 day countdown until the regular season. Here is your daily fact associated with number 26.

Today’s number 26 looks at an NFL record holder, who currently still plays for Dallas. That player is DaRon Bland.

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DaRon Bland was born July 12, 1999 and selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Bland started his college career at Sacramento State and was mainly a special teams contributor. He finished his time with 43 tackles and two interceptions. The next season was cancelled due to Covid and Bland wouldn’t play any games and would enter the transfer portal to play at Fresno State. He would make 45 tackles with five passes breakups and two interceptions and would declare for the draft. He was never invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.

Bland’s rookie season was quiet for the first quarter of the season, not featuring in a game until Week 4 against Washington. He ended the game with one pass breakup, three tackles and he recorded his first NFL interception. By Week 11, Bland was a key player on defense. He would finish the year with five interceptions (second-most in the league) having played only half the season.

Last season was Bland’s big year. The team signed Stephon Gilmore who had a solid year for Dallas, but once Trevon Diggs was shutdown for the season with a torn ACL, Bland was thrust into Diggs’ spot on defense and he would do more than surpass expectations. He would end the season with 69 tackles (fifth-most on team), 15 pass breakups (led team and sixth-most in the league), and registered three tackles for loss.

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What made Bland’s season standout, however, was his interceptions. He led the league in interceptions with nine and broke two NFL records, both made in dramatic fashion against the Washington Commanders on Thanksgiving.

Late in the fourth quarter of the game, when Dallas was already schooling Washington, Bland caught the ball intended for Jahan Dotson and began taking the ball back to Washington’s endzone. Bland then skated past one defender, stepped inside causing two other defenders to collide with each other, then he ran the ball into the endzone. The score gave Bland five defensive touchdowns for the year and five pick-sixes, both an NFL record for a single-season.

In the NFL Top-100, Bland was named the 31st best player and the Cowboys are now set with one of the most lethal cornerback tandems going into the new season. Not bad for a player that was expected to go undrafted and have only a small chance of making any impact in the game.

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