Just four months after being carted off the field in a playoff loss at Levi’s Stadium, Cowboys running back Tony Pollard is participating in OTA sessions with the team.
Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy made the revelation Thursday while speaking to reporters at a pre-practice press conference.
“Tony’s doing the walkthroughs and things like that,” McCarthy said from the podium at The Star in Frisco on the third day of organized team activities.
Pollard suffered a fractured fibula and high ankle sprain on Jan. 22 during the divisional-round matchup with the 49ers. He was dragged to the ground from behind by San Francisco safety Jimmie Ward, who employed a “hip-drop” tackle that many called to be outlawed by the league’s owners moving forward.
That effort may have stalled, but Pollard is plowing full speed ahead in both his rehab and his new role with the offense. He signed his franchise tag tender in March and is set to earn $10.09 million as the club’s uncontested RB1 after the offseason release of Ezekiel Elliott.
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Pollard is not yet up to full game speed, of course, but it’s still early. League rules prohibit live contact during OTAs; McCarthy described the work currently being done as coming at a “walkthrough or jogthrough” pace.
Apart from OTAs, the team will have a four-day “ramp-up” to this summer’s training camp, McCarthy said, that will be designed to help players like Pollard and offensive lineman Terence Steele, who are coming off injury.
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