The Dallas Cowboys are set to play the latest in the franchise’s long series of Thanksgiving games Thursday when they take on the Washington Commanders.
The Cowboys have gotten out to a 7-3 start to the season and are two games back of the league-leading Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East, giving every game an additional level of importance.
They have reached this point, though, largely without Trevon Diggs. What happened to the star cornerback?
What Happened to Trevon Diggs?
It was all positive for Dallas through the first two weeks of the season after coming into the campaign with high expectations and opening with blowout wins over the New York Giants and New York Jets.
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Then, during a practice leading up to the Cowboys’ Week 3 meeting with the Arizona Cardinals, tragedy struck. Diggs suffered a knee injury during practice on Sept. 21 and was subsequently seen leaving the locker room on crutches that day. Sources told PFN at the time that he was seen walking off the field under his own power, and a cart was not involved.
The news only worsened, however, as Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapaport reported the initial fear was that Diggs had suffered a torn ACL, which was confirmed shortly thereafter by an official statement from the Cowboys.
The injury ended Diggs’ 2023 season before it had even truly begun, just two games in. The highly regarded cornerback finished the season with four solo tackles, three pass breakups, one interception, and a forced fumble. Diggs was coming off back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons, including an 11-interception showing on his way to first-team All-Pro honors in 2021.
The injury dealt a tough blow to the Dallas secondary and a defense that had performed among the league’s best early in the year.
Others Step Up in Cowboys’ Secondary
Dallas has found ways to get dependable production out of the cornerback spot even without Diggs, though.
Second-year cornerback DaRon Bland has continued to produce turnovers at an elite level since stepping into the starting lineup. He is now up to 38 tackles (29 solo), 12 pass breakups, and six interceptions, four of which he has returned for touchdowns.
Outside of Bland, Stephon Gilmore has been dependable at the position, while Jourdan Lewis has also seen significant time. Gilmore has 34 tackles (28 solo), nine pass breakups, and two interceptions on the year, while Lewis is up to 23 tackles (16 solo), two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one pass breakup.
Although Dallas would certainly like to have Diggs as part of that unit, his loss has not appeared to harm the team to a great extent as others have stepped up.
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