Will DaRon Bland play in Cowboys Week 9 game vs Falcons?

The Dallas Cowboys have had to deal with some difficult injuries this season, and one of the toughest to stomach was that of cornerback DaRon Bland.

Bland is one of Dallas' key defensive players. Last season, he set an NFL record with five pick-sixes in the season and was the NFL leader in interceptions with nine total.

Bland’s injury status: Week 9

Bland was injured during the last week of training camp before the regular season started, suffering a stress fracture in his foot. He had to have surgery and was placed on Injured Reserve. Initially it looked like Bland would make his return before the bye week when the Cowboys played the Detroit Lions in Week 6, but he suffered a setback and was held out of both that Game and Week 8’s road Game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Without Bland and several other impact players on the defense including LB Micah Parsons, and DEs DeMarcus Lawrence and Marshawn Kneeland, the Cowboys are at 3-4 and in desperate need of help on that side of the ball.

The good news is that the Cowboys did activate Bland from Injured Reserve on Wednesday before his 21-day practice window closed so that they could keep him from being placed on season-ending IR and to give him the opportunity to play again at some point this season.

In a corresponding move, CB Amani Oruwariye was placed on IR after suffering a back injury against the Niners last week and will be out for at least the next four Games, including this week’s against the Falcons.

Whether or not his activation from IR means Bland will be ready to play this week against the Falcons remains to be determined.

“DaRon will be in the rehab group today with the goal of working tomorrow,” head coach Mike McCarthy said on Wednesday. “We’re not going to put him out there until he’s ready to go,”

Even if he can‘t return this week, Bland is at least available to start as soon as the Cowboys need him now that he‘s been activated, so it’s a good sign for a team that could use one of those.