The Dallas Cowboys are the biggest underogs in Week1 of the NFL regular season. While the Philadelphia Eagles are a juggernaut, the Cowboys are fresh off trading their best player in Micah Parsons and nobody really knows how they are going to respond.
It's unclear if the spread will change again before Thursday, but Dallas has just got some news that undoubtedly boosts their odds. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported on Wednesday that cornerback Trevon Diggs is expected to play in the game.
Without Parsons applying pressure on Jalen Hurts, having Diggs back in any capacity is massive as the Cowboys look to pull off the upset.
Cowboys shockingly get Trevon Diggs back from knee injury for Week 1
While Diggs has been a full participant in practice this week, fans wondered if the coaching staff would play it safe and sit him on Thursday.
Just last week, Diggs gave himself a 75-80 percent chance of playing, but he really ramped up his workload in practice during the final week of training camp and he's been taking reps against CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens since the team returned from Oxnard.
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If you back even further, Diggs was targeting a Week 3 or 4 return. Early in the offseason, it was widely feared that he would miss up to half the season. Jerry Jones called him out publicly on more than one occasion about how and where he was rehabbing. They even fined him $500,000 for failing to meet a requirement in his contract to train with Dallas' medical staff.
It is astonishing that he beat his expected timeline by months. A dark cloud was cast over this season largely because Diggs and DeMarvion Overshown were expected to miss a chunk of it.
Diggs deserves credit for not just beating his timeline, but for reseting the Cowboys' ceiling in the process.