How Matt Eberflus has shifted his defensive scheme to help the Cowboys cornerbacks as injuries pile up

FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys starting cornerbacks' health situation over the last few seasons has been a real-life game of Whac-A-Mole.

Across the 53 games played since the 2022 season, the Cowboys' defenses rolled out the team's ideal starting three corners (two outside and the nickel playing out of the slot) in only 10 games: six in 2022, two in 2023, one in 2024 and one in 2025. That trend will continue with Dallas All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland (foot) sidelined for at least a few weeks with an injury he suffered in Monday's practice. 

"It's obviously unfortunate for him. He'll be working with the medical staff," Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said Thursday. "No timetable (for his return)."  

The good news for Dallas is that two-time Pro Bowler Trevon Diggs is starting to get over the hump with his knee injury following a procedure in January. He played in 26 of the Cowboys' 62 defensive snaps (64.5%) in their narrow 24-20 Week 1 loss at the Philadelphia Eagles, and he wasn't targeted on his 20 coverage snaps, per TruMedia. Diggs agreed that he's moving "instinctively" and "without any hesitation" despite still being on a limited snap count.   

"I felt good," Diggs said. "Thankful and blessed. Just to go out there and be with my teammates, competing. I missed it a lot, just being out all the time that I was. It was just a blessing to be out there."  

Dallas will obviously need Diggs to ramp up to playing closer to a starter's load of snaps in Week 2 against the New York Giants, especially with Pro Bowl wide receiver Malik Nabers coming to town. However, it's unlikely Diggs' Week 2 snap increase will return to normal levels, which is somewhere between 50 and 70 snaps. 

"In terms of Trevon Diggs, looking good. He's done a really good job of progressing," Eberflus said. "He's been really dialed in here the last couple weeks, and he's looking to get some more reps this week. We'll see how it goes today and through the rest of the week as well. ... I think he'll get more snaps."  

"Still working," Diggs said when asked about his snap counts. "Just a little bit more than last week. I feel like it's best and the smartest and the safest thing to do. I feel like increasing it a couple more plays and just working my way back slowly."  

Schematic shift masking injuries

Even though Dallas and Diggs are making sure they're responsibly ramping up his snap count, that doesn't mean Eberflus has Diggs playing cautiously. 

Diggs said his blitz of Hurts in Week 1 that recorded the third quarterback pressure of his six-year career was his first real blitz in the NFL. That's why he didn't look fully natural while charging at Hurts, which allowed the Eagles quarterback to spin out of Diggs' clutches before throwing the football away. Eberflus said "wrapping up through the waist" and going for a "punch on the football" would be technique points worth emphasizing. 

"It just looked too good to be true," Diggs said with a smile. "He wasn't looking at me, and I was coming full speed, hard. Like 'Alright, I'm about to kill him. I'm about to kill him.' And then he spun out, and I'm like, 'Oh, this is kind of harder than it looks.' ... I'm going to come in with a little bit more control next time."

Blitzing is one of the many things Diggs has enjoyed early on about Eberflus' defensive scheme.

"This defense has been really cool to be a part of," Diggs said. "Just the different coverages we have: a lot of zone, a lot of man. Corner blitzes. We just got many, many coverages. Just mixing it up. Keeping the offense on their toes. Not just playing man every play. ... Trying to put us a step ahead of the offense that we play. So, I like it a lot, just being able to do different things."

Even though Diggs prides himself on being a man-coverage, true cover corner, the two-time Pro Bowler embraced the heavy zone coverage gameplan Eberflus rolled out in his Cowboys debut. Dallas utilized man coverage on just 3.2% of its plays, the lowest man coverage rate of any defense in the entire league in Week 1. 

That's a massive shift from when current Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn ran the Dallas defense from 2021 to 2023: Quinn's Cowboys played man coverage on 33.8% of their plays, the third-highest rate in the NFL across those three seasons. The shift worked in Week 1: The Eagles' 144 net passing yards ranked as the seventh-fewest in the NFL in Week 1, and Philadelphia's dynamic wide receiver duo of A.J. Brown (one catch on one target for 8 yards) and DeVonta Smith (three catches on three targets for 16 yards) were held in check. 

"It was cool," Diggs said of the additional zone coverage looks. "I feel like it helped put us in a better chance to win the game."

However, Eberflus made it clear that not all zone coverage is a one size fits all, and he works hard to vary his zone looks snap to snap in order to keep opponents off balance. 

"There's different types of zone. There's zone where you're a vision zone (standing and staring at the quarterback). There's also match where you match up (with a man-coverage element), and those to me are different," Eberflus said. "Because you do have a body on a body. We have variations of that from shell variations of that from single high (one safety up top), so we're going to mix our coverages like we always do, mix in our disguises."

* Week 1, 2025 season

Eberflus also cranked up the blitzing in the second half -- Dallas blitzed on 37.5% of Hurts' dropbacks after not blitzing at all during the first two quarters -- and as a result, the Eagles scored just three points after halftime. Communication is a key component of Eberflus' early success connecting with his players, something Diggs has been appreciative of after not connecting as well with Mike Zimmer and his scheme in 2024. 

"That helped out a lot, just putting pressure on him," Diggs said of the blitzing. "Getting pressure back there and just getting Jalen to move off his spot. So you know that was a good change up on Coach's part. ... I talk to him every day. He's always asking, 'How do you feel about this? What do you think about this? How do you think about this call?' So the communication is a factor. We're going into the game with a plan and not just doing anything."

So, will Eberflus have Diggs "travel" with Nabers in Week 2 despite his limited snap count? The football world will find out Sunday afternoon. 

"I think that's always a good idea if you can travel a guy. I think that's important in certain spots, but I also believe that you got to be able to run your scheme," Eberflus said. "You can run your scheme and tilt your scheme to players, but that's what we've done in the past. I think that's important to do that. There's a lot of good players over there."

Even though he's not 100%, Diggs is fired up for the test Nabers will bring. 

"Great player. I have tremendous respect for Malik. He is going to be one of the top wide receivers in the NFL. Runs good routes, has good speed. Has good hands," Diggs said. "Everything, full package. It's a good test for us this week, him being a great player. Veteran quarterback (Russell Wilson) out there. It's going to be fun."