Currently, if your eyes are closed you can still get a sense of the light around you, and moving your head around you can tell if you’re moving it toward or away from a light source (barring maybe if you’re outdoors and it’s bright out all around you).
But what if when we closed our eyes it was like full blackout? Would blinking become disorienting? Could it mess up circadian rhythms? Something else? Or would it not really matter?
Not the article you were thinking of, but reinforces your point. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389556721000022
Tl;dr, there are light sensors, or at least light energy sensing mechanisms, in our skin.