FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus ducked questions about two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs’ (knee) availability for Thursday night at the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles.
“I really don’t have a comment about [Trevon] Diggs right now in terms of his playtime and all that,” Eberflus said on Monday. “We’re still working through all those things with him, but he’s looked good so far. We’ll see where that is.”
Diggs, who practiced fully on Monday, answered the question about his availability for Thursday much more transparently after practice saying he has a “75-80 percent” chance to play in the 2025 NFL season’s opening game.
The 26-year-old, who turns 27 on Sept. 20, played in 11 games in 2024, but he suffered a season-ending knee injury after playing in a “Monday Night Football” defeat vs. the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 14. Diggs underwent a chondral tissue graft procedure in his knee in January, which marked the second year in a row with a knee injury after tearing his ACL in practice in Week 3 of the 2023 season.
Now, he’s leaned on taking reps with the scout team against three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott, All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and explosive wide receiver George Pickens in practice to rev up his conditioning. However, it’s been so helpful that the starter might continue the habit even once he is fully cleared.
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“I did everything today [at practice]. I did a lot of scout team reps too. I’m getting more conditioning, so Thursday may be looking good,” Diggs said. “It [running with scout team vs. the first team offense] is to get my conditioning now, but I think now I’m going to move forward and still take those reps because I like going against CeeDee and Pickens. I haven’t been playing in a year so getting those reps with Dak and getting all that is just going to be better for me.”
So what could the Cowboys’ secondary look like on Thursday night in Philadelphia? If Diggs is healthy, he would line up outside opposite former Buffalo Bills 2022 first-round pick cornerback Kaiir Elam. Elam’s game is much more suited for playing outside corner, which would send 2023 NFL interceptions leader DaRon Bland back inside to the nickel corner role where Bland played in 2022 as a rookie. Should Diggs not get cleared in time for Thursday, Bland and Elam would be the outside corners, and then it would be a team effort at nickel. It could be Reddy Steward, a player picked up off of waivers on roster cut down day, or undrafted rookie Zion Childress getting bumped up from the practice squad.
Like Eberflus said, “we’ll see where that is” come Thursday night.