While the first week of Cowboys training camp has already included highlight grabs by rookie CeeDee Lamb, booming kicks from Greg Zuerlein, the re-emergence of Aldon Smith, and the premature loss of Gerald McCoy, some notable longtime Dallas stars have stayed almost completely of the radar thus far.
Linebacker Sean Lee is back for his eleventh season with the team, but he hasn’t technically been with the team for the real on-the-field sessions. The two-time Pro Bowler has been working off to the side, for reasons that were unclear until Friday’s revelation from head coach Mike McCarthy.
Lee is battling an injury.
(Insert a here-we-go-again eye roll here, Cowboys fans. Go ahead. Get it out of the way.)
The nature of the injury is unspecified; it apparently happened during the strength and conditioning phase of the offseason and has led the team to take a cautious approach with Lee as the contact portion of training camp has gotten underway.
Cowboys LB Sean Lee is seemingly locked in at all times. He again worked to the side with a trainer. When done, he jogged to LB drills, stood in stance behind group and, with fast short steps, executed some of the movements needed for when he eventually rejoins teammates.
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) August 21, 2020
But, according to McCarthy, Lee continues to put in the work necessary for him to be ready to go as soon as possible.
“The one thing about Sean, you know, he’s here all day every day,” McCarthy told the media before Friday’s practice session. “He’s totally on top of everything that we’re asking him to do: clear understanding of the defense and things like that. But injuries happen. That’s part of the game; you go through it each and every year, whether it’s a young player or a veteran. Until they get healthy, it’s the most important thing: you don’t want this to be a reoccurring issue.”
It looks like Sean Lee suffered an injury of some kind during the strength and conditioning phase of training camp according to Mike McCarthy. That's the main reason why he hasn't practiced yet.
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) August 21, 2020
Lee has earned a reputation as being often-injured throughout his NFL career. After appearing in 29 of 32 games over his first two seasons, the Penn State alum missed 10 games in 2012 and another five the following year before an offseason ACL tear scratched him from the entire 2014 campaign.
Upon his return, Lee logged stats in 14, 15, and 11 games in the next three seasons, respectively. A lingering hamstring issue limited the former second-round draft pick to just seven contests in 2018, but he bounced back to play all of 2019 in a reduced role.
Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch have quickly become one of the league’s most feared linebacking duos, with Justin March and Joe Thomas contributing nicely in spot situations. Second-year man Luke Gifford flashed tons of promise before getting hurt last preseason; he’s healthy now. And UDFA rookie Francis Bernard has turned heads early this camp.
Lee simply isn’t asked to carry as much weight with this LB corps as he had to early in his career. An exceptional student of the game and widely considered to be a coaching candidate once he hangs up cleats, he’s one of those players who doesn’t need the physical punishment of practice to be ready to play. It sounds as if he’s staying sharp, though, and McCarthy didn’t seem terribly concerned about his long-term availability.
So while the young guys compete for roster spots and duke it out for the attention of the coaching staff and Twitterverse, Cowboys fans would likely be just fine with Lee staying off to the side until the season starts.
And rolling him in a layer or two of bubble wrap might not be the worst idea ever.
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