With just nine days remaining before opening night, the Dallas Cowboys personnel situation is coming into focus. Talk of meetings with free agent safeties and hopes of suspended defensive ends getting reinstated fill the air. Meanwhile, the team continues to whittle down towards the initial 53-man roster, making a handful of releases ahead of Saturday’s deadline.

Another way the team can trim but without losing control of a player’s contract is to place players on injured reserve. For 2020, teams have the ability to bring players back much earlier than usual and it appears Dallas will be taking that approach with two key players. LB Sean Lee and CB Jourdan Lewis appear to be on that path, according to DMN’s Michael Gelkhen.

Cowboys LB Sean Lee is expected to begin season on injured reserve, sources said. CB Jourdan Lewis is among the other candidates under a new rule that allows for quicker and unlimited IR activations. https://t.co/Ta23ftJoFp

— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) September 4, 2020

As a result of the pandemic and in an effort to make sure teams will have as many eligible players in the case of an outbreak, teams are no longer required to wait eight games before activating a player.

Players still need to make the initial 53-man roster, but then can be placed on IR and only have to miss a minimum of three weeks. After the three weeks, the player is eligible to return to practice. Once they do, the team will have 21 days to activate said player.

So guys like  Lee and possible Lewis would make the opening roster, and then once Week 3 passes, they can be phased back into full practice once healthy and activated anytime in a three-week window after they’ve returned to the practice field.

Even after playing in all 16 games for the first time in his 10-year career, Lee has missed 51 of his 160 possible games in his career. That would move up to 54 games, at a minimum if he’s placed on IR Sunday.

Missing three games will move the total amount of salary Dallas has paid Lee for games he didn’t suit up for over the $13 million threshold. Lee has $1.5 million in gameday roster bonuses, so he’ll lose just under $100,000 in bonus money for games he doesn’t suit up for.

Lee is the Cowboys’ top reserve lineman, but they have enough depth to withstand the well-telegraphed Lee injuries. Joe Thomas is a starting-capable player and the team seems very excited about UDFA Francis Bernard out of Utah.

Lee has not practiced all training camp, while Lewis tweaked his left ankle in camp two weeks ago.

Lewis seemed to be in line to be the top slot corner with Anthony Brown taking plenty of snaps at right corner. The Cowboys have placed both Trevon Diggs and Chidobe Awuzie at left corner, with Daryl Worley getting practice reps all over the secondary, including safety. How the team lines up Week 1 against Sean McVay’s potent passing attack will be interesting if Lewis isn’t healthy enough to play.

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