Dallas Cowboys learning how to absorb injuries

The Dallas Cowboys have learned a hard lesson that absorbing injuries is an important aspect to winning in the NFL.

During organized team activities (OTA’s), I remember receiving a mobile alert that read: Cowboys Collins injury broken foot. Surprisingly, I didn’t panic. I just thought about the Cowboys front office being prepared and our depth along the offensive line.

Offensive guard La’el Collins would miss some valuable reps, but he proved he was prepared by becoming a starter last season. As a bonus, offensive guard Ronald Leary had signed his one year, $2.5 million dollar contract. That gives us an experienced backup who was a former starter. Great job Stephen Jones!

It was hours later before I discovered that the injury occurred to our third round draft pick – defensive tackle Maliek Collins. That’s a loss that the Cowboys could absorb due to depth. Most of the defensive line talk earlier in the offseason revolved around the return of Greg Hardy. For those looking at the left hand, the right hand of the Cowboys was accumulating talent by signing defensive tackles Rodney Coe and Cedric Thornton.

They also brought back Jack Crawford to join Tyrone Crawford, David Irving, Casey Walker and Terrell McClain. If you’ve lost count, that’s a total of eight defensive tackles and a few of those listed also play defensive end. It’s a versatile group filled with depth and position flex.

Fortunately, the defensive tackle position is going to be the easiest position to see overall improvement. The Cowboys have finally parted ways with my favorite whipping boy – Nick Hayden. As I write this, he’s still a free agent.

During his seven year career, Hayden played in 74 games and finished with just two sacks. None of those sacks came with the Cowboys, so Collins will equal Hayden’s production by getting on the field.

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I worry more about players with injuries that last during the regular season. Players getting injured is different than drafting players that are injured. We’re all cheering for second round selection, linebacker Jaylon Smith (34th overall) but we’ll forever compare him to Reggie Ragland (41st overall). Like our current middle linebacker Rolando McClain, Ragland also played at Alabama. That alumni connection might have caused McClain to take Ragland under his wing.

I’m a big believer that veteran players help rookies develop faster and reduce the NFL learning curve. Ragland once said about his Alabama teammate, “C.J. Mosely is one of the smartest players I’ve ever played with and if I had a question, I didn’t have to go to coaches because I could go straight to him and he broke it down to me the best way that I could understand it.”

We’re totally on board with the concept of building the team through the draft. Cowboy Nation needs the team to treat every draft pick as a precious commodity. Is there room for experiments or projects when every pick matters?

After all, teams don’t spend the entire 7th round of the draft selecting kickers. The 53-man roster is precious real estate. When it’s formed and finalized, let’s hope everyone on it will be able to contribute. You can’t be the “Next Man Up” if you’re down.

Speedy Recoveries!

#GoCowboys

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