Cowboys Rookie DaRon Bland Joins Micah Parsons on Coach Dan Quinn 'Takeaway Wall'

DaRon Bland proves to be "photogenic'' in Cowboys coach Dan Quinn's room ... and may now be a candidate for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

FRISCO - Micah Parsons is on-record as wishing to lead the Dallas Cowboys in ... well, everything.

Sacks and tackles and interceptions. He'd like to run the ball and return punts. Oh, and in terms of colorful interview sessions, he's a team-topper.

And his revelation about DaRon Bland fills out two categories.

“DQ has a takeaway wall we all sign,” Parsons said of coordinator Dan Quinn's meeting room here at The Star. “If you're (involved in a takeaway), you get your picture on the wall ... 

"And right now, the room is full of pictures.”

Micah's up there. But nobody is more "photogenic'' right now than the fifth-round rookie Bland, who after another interception Saturday in the win over Philadelphia has four picks in the month of December and a team-leading five overall.

“Any time the ball is in the air,'' said Bland, echoing the spoken mindset of fellow corner Trevon Diggs, "I think it’s mine.”

Diggs, last season’s NFL pick champion with an astounding 11, is now getting poked at by teammates because Bland - unheralded out of Fresno State before making the team in training camp - is presenting a challenge.

“I think (Diggs) might have a little competition on his hands now,” Parsons joked, suggesting that Bland could now be Dallas' top corner.

That's a bit much. But he did step in as the top slot corner when Jourdan Lewis went down, and he played well. And after the injury to Anthony Brown and the shortcomings of Kelvin Joseph, against the Eagles he moved to the outside corner and played well enough to suggest Dallas might've found a long-term answer there.

Bland has earned attention in this season’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, the award Parsons won last year.

“DaRon’s doing this thing,” Parsons said. “I couldn’t be more happy.''

Bland's assertive steal of for that critical fourth-quarter interception of Gardner Minshew really did remind of Diggs' aggressiveness to the ball ... all done in a physical manner.

I bet y’all Eagles fans know who Daron Bland is now! pic.twitter.com/MmgKgANwB2

— CowboysFanTalk (@Cowboys_FanTalk) December 25, 2022

Said Bland of the moment: “In the fourth quarter, each time we came out there on the field, we were just thinking, ‘There’s one more play. One more play. We’ve got to make one more stop to get the ball back and give the offense the ball.’ 

"That was our mindset.''

And suddenly? Dallas is 10-4, still in the hunt for the NFC's top playoff berth ... filling up the stat sheet (the Cowboys defense leads the league in takeaways) ... 

And filling up Dan Qui

“My teammates make me have that confidence in myself. That’s it.”

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