ESPN’s latest cornerback rankings didn’t include a Dallas Cowboys defender in the top 10, but DaRon Bland did at least get a nod in the “also receiving votes” group.
That list landed Tuesday as part of ESPN’s annual positional rankings, which are built from input gathered from executives, coaches and scouts around the league. The idea is to capture how people closest to the game view the position, and this year’s cornerback rundown reflected just how rough things were for Dallas on defense last season.
The top 10 ESPN listed were Pat Surtain II of the Broncos, Derek Stingley Jr. of the Texans, Christian Gonzalez of the Patriots, Devon Witherspoon of the Seahawks, Trent McDuffie of the Rams, Quinyon Mitchell of the Eagles, Denzel Ward of the Browns, Jaycee Horn of the Panthers, Sauce Gardner of the Colts and Cooper DeJean of the Eagles.
Even without a Cowboys player on that main list, there is a small connection worth noting for Dallas fans. Surtain, Mitchell and DeJean all have past ties to new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, which at least gives the team some familiarity in the room as Parker settles in.
Dallas also missed out on the honorable mention tier, but Bland did appear among the 10 players who also received votes. ESPN had four honorable mentions and then 10 more players in that next group, which puts Bland inside the broader conversation at the position.
By that math, the Cowboys have one of the NFL’s top 24 cornerbacks in this particular ranking system. It’s not much to celebrate, but it does give Parker something concrete to build on.
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