Is DaRon Bland who we think he is?

[MaddHatter]

Disclaimer: he’s a 2nd year player that was a 5th round pick.  I’m ecstatic with what he’s done, especially after filling in for Diggs opposite Gilmore.  This thread is about his Pro Bowl / All-Pro / etc recognition and is he truly THAT caliber of player.

DaRon Bland 2023 Stats:

9 INT, 209 return yards, 5 TD, 3 TFL, 0 FF

50 Catches allowed on 84 Targets

60% Catch Rate allowed

661 yards allowed, 13.2 YPC, 7.9 YPA

4 TDs allowed, 60.8 PSRA

 

So he’s giving up a chunk of yards everytime he gets targeted, but if he scores more than he give up and picks off 10% of the QBs attempts, is he worthy of “elite” status that an All-Pro infers?

Edited January 11 by MaddHatter

[textaz03]

Diggs and Bland are virtually the same player IMO. They are not your dynamic shut down their side of the field type player, both give up junk yard plays. But both will make you pay dearly if you slip up in any way. 

[MaddHatter]

3 hours ago, textaz03 said:

Diggs and Bland are virtually the same player IMO. They are not your dynamic shut down their side of the field type player, both give up junk yard plays. But both will make you pay dearly if you slip up in any way. 

Comparing Bland's 23 to Digg's 21 

11 INT, 142ret yards, 2 TDs, 0 FF, 0 TFL

54 completions on 103 targets for a 52.4% Comp %

907 Yards Allowed, 16.8yds/Comp and 8.8yds/Attempt with 4TDs allowed and a Passer Rating allowed of 55.8

Yeah, I'd say you're spot on

Edited January 11 by MaddHatter

[textaz03]

DaRon Bland is the only CB in the NFL with an 80+ grade in coverage and run defense, per PFF. #Cowboys
 

https://x.com/johnowning/status/1745270553622327563?s=46&t=ktd6JTByZwOAf6VhdnN4wg

[HDsportsfan]

I don't think we can call him "THAT" player after just one OUTSTANDING year. Needs to be consistent over time. With that said, it's not realistic to expect him to have multiple pick 6's every year either.

[quiller]

Thanks for the stats.   His completions given up higher then I expected his targets about right 5 a game which means QB’s tend to avoid him. For the record he has more PD the Gardner would like to compare his totals to Gilmore.  
I personally feel he has deserved the high praise.  Anytime you score more points as a defender then time give up is a huge plus.  

[quiller]

2 minutes ago, HDsportsfan said:

I don't think we can call him "THAT" player after just one OUTSTANDING year. Needs to be consistent over time. With that said, it's not realistic to expect him to have multiple pick 6's every year either.

True but will he lead the league in interceptions every year ???    And it is his ONLy year so kinda hard to punish him either.   Let’s us remember the improvement Diggs had in coverage year 1 to 2 to what he showed before injury

[matt79511]

I thought PFF charted Diggs with 1100 yards allowed or something insane two years ago. They’re definitely much higher on what Bland did this year, for whatever reason. They had Diggs graded as an outright bad CB in 2021

[quiller]

1 hour ago, matt79511 said:

I thought PFF charted Diggs with 1100 yards allowed or something insane two years ago. They’re definitely much higher on what Bland did this year, for whatever reason. They had Diggs graded as an outright bad CB in 2021

Two years ago the only thing Diggs had going was the interceptions he was bad in coverage due to being way too aggressive trying to get interceptions 

[MaddHatter]

1 hour ago, matt79511 said:

I thought PFF charted Diggs with 1100 yards allowed or something insane two years ago. They’re definitely much higher on what Bland did this year, for whatever reason. They had Diggs graded as an outright bad CB in 2021

I went with PRF’s numbers - don’t subscribe to PFF

[Nextyearfordaboyz]

Allowing 2.9 catches for 39 yards on average has you questioning whether Bland is an All-Pro? Take away the Seattle game where he obviously didn’t match up well with a true freak in Metcalf, and those numbers probably improve a lot.

But anyway, “besides the INTs” is like saying, if you don’t get all the legroom, comfy seating, and free food and booze, in a first class seat that much nicer than coach?

The dude made QB’s lives miserable this year. And yes, a big part of that is INTs. Even in his worst game against Seattle, Bland made a huge, timely interception.

Is he perfect? No, of course not. But Bland was, unequivocally, elite in 2023.

[MaddHatter]

12 minutes ago, Nextyearfordaboyz said:

Allowing 2.9 catches for 39 yards on average has you questioning whether Bland is an All-Pro? Take away the Seattle game where he obviously didn’t match up well with a true freak in Metcalf, and those numbers probably improve a lot.

But anyway, “besides the INTs” is like saying, if you don’t get all the legroom, comfy seating, and free food and booze, in a first class seat that much nicer than coach?

The dude made QB’s lives miserable this year. And yes, a big part of that is INTs. Even in his worst game against Seattle, Bland made a huge, timely interception.

Is he perfect? No, of course not. But Bland was, unequivocally, elite in 2023.

He also didn’t exactly face a slew of good QBs or great WR, haha.  We got a pretty relaxed schedule other than Allen, a Tua fed Waddle, or a Geno fed DK.  Purdy to Aiyuk maybe but don’t recall how often he was in coverage on him.  He got a bunch of Kyler, Zach, Tyrod, Sam, Bryce, etc type games

[textaz03]

4 minutes ago, MaddHatter said:

He also didn’t exactly face a slew of good QBs or great WR, haha.  We got a pretty relaxed schedule other than Allen, a Tua fed Waddle, or a Geno fed DK.  Purdy to Aiyuk maybe but don’t recall how often he was in coverage on him.  He got a bunch of Kyler, Zach, Tyrod, Sam, Bryce, etc type games

Don’t forget Hurts to AJ and Smith. Hurts was widely considered an early MVP leader. 

Game 1:

AJ 7 rec for 66 yards and 1 TD

Smith 3 rec for 51 yards and 1 TD

game 2:

AJ 9 rec for 94 yards 0 TD

Smith 5 rec for 73 yards 0 TD

[D82]

The game is so slanted in favor of offenses these days it's hard for any defensive player to truly be "shutdown" anymore. 

I'd say Bland is absolutely elite and we're damn lucky to have him and Diggs at CB moving forward.

[plan9misfit]

2 hours ago, MaddHatter said:

He also didn’t exactly face a slew of good QBs or great WR, haha.  We got a pretty relaxed schedule other than Allen, a Tua fed Waddle, or a Geno fed DK.  Purdy to Aiyuk maybe but don’t recall how often he was in coverage on him.  He got a bunch of Kyler, Zach, Tyrod, Sam, Bryce, etc type games

I think he’s a lot like Asante Samuel was back in the day: high risk, high reward. Over the decades, we’ve often seen CBs who get a lot of INTs give up yards because their focus is on forcing turnovers, unlike guys like Nnamdi Asomugha, as an example. His game was sticking to the receiver like glue and forcing the QB to throw it somewhere else. Bland is all about forcing turnovers, so it’ll be very interesting to see how that shakes out when Diggs returns next season, since two of our three CBs are high turnover guys.