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Todd Archer
FRISCO, Texas — Two days after dealing Pro Bowl edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a four-year extension worth $92 million with Pro Bowl cornerback DaRon Bland, according to multiple sources.
The deal has $50 million in guaranteed money, including a $22 million signing bonus.
The Cowboys announced Bland’s extension but did not disclose financial terms.
Pick-Six King ✍️
We have extended DaRon Bland through the 2029 season
🗞️: https://t.co/gmCZwj6wbO | @blockchain pic.twitter.com/mDMayrDSLu
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) August 31, 2025
Bland, 26, set an NFL record in 2023 when he returned five of his league-best nine interceptions for touchdowns. He was limited to seven games last season because of a stress reaction in his left foot that required surgery, and he did not have an interception.
“He does have incredible ball skills, but I also think he’s got incredible instincts,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said Sunday. “His ability to study the game and his knowledge of the game for a young player, relatively young, are uncanny. Like his ability to read splits and anticipate routes and things like that, I always think of Stephon Gilmore. … Those guys as they get older, and they maybe lose a little bit of a step or something so they have to learn how to read splits and things like that, but DaRon’s just always had the ability to process things very quickly.
“Then he’s certainly got elite change of direction and ball skills, which is why the interceptions and the pick-sixes, per se, have happened. Another guy [that] fits perfectly in our defense. … Key, key piece for the Dallas Cowboys.”
A fifth-round pick in 2022 out of Fresno State, Bland led the Cowboys in interceptions as a rookie with five.
Bland said his first call after agreeing to the deal was to his mother and they reflected on his journey as a Day 3 pick in the draft.
“Not many fifth-rounders get the opportunity that I’ve had and be in this deal and to be able to do what I do,” Bland said. “So I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be out there.”
The Cowboys had negotiations with Bland’s agent during training camp, so this agreement had little to do with the Parsons trade.
Bland thought it was important to get the deal done before the season, “because it was always something that was going to be in the back of my head.”
Now he just has to wonder about his role. With Trevon Diggs coming back from knee surgery, it’s possible Bland could be asked to move inside to the nickel role in passing situations. Having the deal done makes that potential move easier.
“Now that I’ve got the contract, it’s kind of like a new drive, a new motivation to keep going out there,” he said. “Now I’ve got to go prove it.”
He was set to be a free agent after the season. He is the second player the Cowboys have extended from their 2022 draft class this offseason with tight end Jake Ferguson signing a four-year $52 million deal that included $30 million in guarantees in July.
“We’re a draft and develop team,” Schottenheimer said. “We want to draft guys. We want to develop them. We’ve shown that we have a great history here, long before I got here, of drafting players and developing them. And I think the cool thing when you look at the guys that you do that with is, usually they don’t change. Fergy has not changed a bit. He’s still the enforcer that he likes to be and half bit crazy all the time which is awesome. I love being around him, and DaRon’s not going to change.”
The club has also had talks with Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith, but he is under contract through 2026 with the Cowboys picking up the 2022 first-rounder’s fifth-year option in the spring.
“Hopefully,” Schottenheimer said, “[Smith] is next.”