Bland injured his foot earlier in the week during practice and first popped up on the injury report Wednesday. This injury is on his right foot, not his left foot that he fractured in training camp last season which caused him to be sidelined until Week 12.
The good news for Dallas is at this point in time, the team doesn’t think Bland’s injury is serious enough to place him on injured reserve, where he’d have to miss four games.
“We don’t think that that’s what it’s going to require,” Schottenheimer said. “I’d say no decision is ever final, but we don’t think it’s going to be something that significant.”
So, what will the Cowboys do without Bland on the field?
“We’ve got some different packages that we’re going to use,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ll use the safety down there some, we can play a little more base defense, but also you’re going to see Reddy Stewart play a lot of football.”
Stewart is a second year corner out of Troy who spent last season with Matt Eberflus and the Bears before playing for the Vikings practice squad in the 2025 preseason. His familiarity and ball-hawking ability, highlighted by 12 interceptions in college at Troy, is what gives Schottenheimer and his staff trust in the young slot corner they acquired just over two weeks ago.