Back in December, the Dallas Cowboys rolled into Charlotte for their Week 15 matchup, but without their star corner, Trevon Diggs. It was expected as he powered through his knee injury during the mid-to-late part of the season, but eventually, he underwent left-knee surgery this January. Yes, the same knee that incurred an ACL injury in 2023. Obviously, his return in 2025 is still up in the air, and so, Jerry Jones and America’s Team made a move in the draft, grabbing someone to fill in until Diggs is fully back. It looked like they addressed the situation, right? Wrong!

The Cowboys used their third-round draft pick to get in East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. What’s interesting is that the player had the potential to be drafted in the first or the second round, but he slid down due to an ACL injury that he suffered last season. It was Dr. Cooper (the head team physician for the Dallas Cowboys) who did Revel’s surgery, and so Jones’ team would have had more perspective on the extent of the injury and the aftermath, too. So is he good to go to training camp?

Well, during the team’s press conference after day two of the 2025 NFL Draft, Stephen Jones shared that he would most likely start the season on PUP (physically unable to perform). “He is young, [so the hope is] that he exceeds expectations and starts to practice up during the process of training camp, but we also know it could be later than that,” Jones said. It looks like they would rather start slow than take a risk with their health of their player. So, this means the replacement of Diggs, who was brought in to fix the defense issues, is himself facing troubles. Yet it seems to be the best plan for the team, as Daron Bland is the only healthy starter at cornerback after Jourdan Lewis left.

That being said, Dr. Cooper has cleared Revel. After being selected by the team, Revel said, “I put on a whole blue suit. Hey, it might be a chance I go to them ‘Boys.’ It was crazy though because me and my family were talking about it the whole time, the whole month, this whole year.

“Right now, I’m running in a straight line. I can lift heavy… Haven’t gotten to the brakes and cutting yet, but I’ve been cleared by Dr. Cooper to at least progress my way up into doing things like that… So now that I’ve got time, whenever I go back home or when I ever get to the facility, I’ll work on those things.” Regardless, once he is healthy, Dallas could consider him for serious playing in the upcoming season.

In fact, a day ago, Dane Brugler of The Athletic described Revel as a “boundary bully”. He allowed just two touchdowns in his career at East Carolina and recorded three interceptions and an interception return for a touchdown in the past season. His threat was real until his ACL injury in Week 3.

Can Shavon Revel Jr. earn his job as a starter?

Now you must be wondering why Jerry Jones and the Cowboys drafted him. Well, Shavon Revel Jr. spent three years tearing it up at R.J. Reynolds High in Winston-Salem, rushing and receiving for over 500 yards each. At Reagan, he didn’t just play football; he starred in track too. But his journey wasn’t easy, though. Injuries hit him hard in high school. He fought through it, started at Louisburg College, and later transferred to East Carolina. There, he became one of the best in the American Athletic Conference by 2023.

At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, his athleticism turned heads. Some even thought he could be a first-round pick before a tough ACL tear in practice last September knocked him down draft boards. But Dallas didn’t forget. They saw the fighter in him, and all that hard work paid off. But the cornerback room in Dallas isn’t too competitive right now. So, if he can get healthy by the time the season starts, he might get the job of the Week 1 starter.

Their depth chart is: DaRon Bland, Diggs, Revel, Kaiir Elam, Caelen Carson, and Andrew Booth. Perhaps a combination of Bland, Revel, Elam, or Carson could work for Week 1. But hey, it might be too early to predict how Dallas will manage its cornerback room.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.