The Dallas Cowboys are locked in with cornerback Trevon Diggs, but things haven’t exactly worked out for the best. The former second-round pick out of the University of Alabama set the world on fire in his first three years of the league, recording the most interceptions in a season in 30 years with 11 in 2021. His work was rewarded with him signing a five-year extension ahead of the 2023 season that secured with function guarantees through the 2025 season and a deal that doesn’t run out until 2029.

But Diggs has hardly seen the field since that contract was signed, missing all but two games in 2023 and missing six in 2024. Along that timeline, the Cowboys discovered a Day 3 cornerback pick who was just as tremendous in Fresno State’s DaRon Bland.

Bland followed up Diggs’ phenomenal success by securing nine interceptions in 2023, returning an NFL record five of them for scores. Together they’ve combined for three Pro Bowls and two First-Team All-Pro nods in their combined eight years of service; an impressive start for a dynamic duo.

The Cowboys haven’t gotten the bang for the buck out of Diggs’ extension, but should that impact how they approach Bland?

ESPN’s Aaron Schatz took some time to advise each of the NFL’s 32 teams on moves they should make during this offseason, and for Dallas he suggests they extend Bland now instead of waiting until his contract expires after the season.

There may be some questions about extending Bland, who is going into the final year of his rookie contract, after the cornerback missed much of 2024 with injuries. And frankly, he could be a bit overrated after his performance in 2023 because there’s a lot of randomness involved in getting five pick-sixes. Still, Bland is strong in coverage. Even without any interceptions in 2024, he had an above-average coverage DVOA in his seven appearances. Extending Bland would lock down the cornerback spot across from Trevon Diggs and allow Dallas to add roughly $3.3 million in cap space.

A couple notes. The Cowboys have several ways that they can create additional cap space this offseason, so the $3.3 million isn’t a dire need, and that doesn’t seem an accurate projection of the impact of an extension. Bland is set to make $5.2 million this season in base salary and an extension would likely lower his base salary to the league minimum, $1.1 million for a player with three accrued seasons.

But a new deal for Bland would come with a signing bonus, and that would have to be a relatively small one to see that kind of savings. It would need to be $4 million across a five-year deal to shave $3.3 million off his cap number.

More than likely Bland’s bonus would be bigger and the savings much less.

Spotrac sees Bland’s market value as being a $23.7 million a year player, and suggests a four-year contract extension totaling $94.5 million in new money.

A signing bonus of at least $20 million would be in play, meaning that Bland’s 2025 cap hit would go up, not down. Even if Spotrac is over-estimating Bland’s value by a large number, the likelihood an extension results in cap savings this year is unlikely.

The real question is whether or not Dallas should commit to Bland for the long term.

His work as a fill-in nickel corner in his rookie season was quite impressive, and he followed that up with a record-setting season on the boundary in Year 2. An injury late in training camp in Year 3 put him behind the proverbial 8-ball, but there’s no reason to think that downturn should extend into this year or beyond.

It makes a ton of sense for the Cowboys to extend Bland now, especially considering they might need to leverage a franchise tag scenario with Micah Parsons next offseason.