CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Cowboys arrived in Charlotte on Saturday without cornerback Trevon Diggs.
It's likely that will be the case for the rest of the season.
Diggs is expected to undergo season-ending surgery on his left knee. The news came hours after the team announced Diggs would not travel with the team to Charlotte and be out for Sunday's game against the Panthers
Diggs, who returned to the Cowboys lineup last Monday against the Cincinnati Bengals, has now suffered two season-ending injuries in as many years, with a torn ACL on the same left knee ending his 2023 campaign in training camp.
"It was great to have him back out there, but I think coming off of everything he's been through, that was a lot of football for him," head coach Mike McCarthy said of Diggs earlier in the week.
Dallas' 27-20 loss to the Bengals was the first game of the season where Diggs, Jourdan Lewis and DaRon Bland all shared the field together in the secondary, and now, it will likely be the last.
The Cowboys continue to be haunted by horrible injury luck, as Diggs is now expected to be the fifth Pro-Bowler that Dallas has had on injured reserve this season joining Dak Prescott, Zack Martin, DaRon Bland, and DeMarcus Lawrence. Prescott and Martin are out for the season as well.
A grand total of 12 Cowboy players currently sit on injured reserve after linebacker DeMarvion Overshown was officially place there today, with Diggs likely to become the 13th.
In 11 games in his first season back from the ACL injury, Diggs tallied 35 tackles, 11 passes defended, and two interceptions. The two games he missed in 2024 were Dallas' back-to-back victories against the Washington Commanders and New York Giants.
This surgery will put an abrupt end to his fifth pro season since being drafted in the second round in 2020. Diggs has 20 career interceptions, including a franchise-tying 11 picks in 2021 to earn an All-Pro selection and the first of his two trips to the Pro Bowl.
The question now for Dallas is who starts in Diggs' place at cornerback on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. In the two games Diggs missed this season, Josh Butler filled the void, but Butler is also out for the season with an ACL injury.
That means the Cowboys options lie with Israel Mukuamu, Amani Oruwariye, Kemon Hall, C.J. Goodwin, and newly elevated Andrew Booth to start alongside DaRon Bland and Jourdan Lewis. Lewis and Goodwin are both listed as questionable against the Panthers.
