Tag: Cam Erving

2020 UDFA Terence Steele, not Cam Erving, to start at RT for Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys undrafted free agent right tackle Terence Steele gets the nod over Cam Erving in the starting lineup.

There’s a lot of things that can be said about the 2020 Dallas Cowboys and new head coach Mike McCarthy, but having big mouths is not one of them. The best kept secret on the roster is now out in the open as word has leaked undrafted free agent Terence Steele will be starting in place of La’el Collins at right tackle against the Los Angeles Rams.

To say that there’s concern among the fan base would be putting it mildly. With Collins on the injured reserve, there was always going to be a drop in play regardless of who got the nod. But the word out of the abbreviated training camp never indicated that Steele would be the guy, certainly not in Week 1 over free agent swing tackle Cam Erving.

Here’s some of the more prominent reactions from the Dallas Twitter-sphere:

With these glowing reviews, one can only imagine that Erving was unimpressive as he recovered from an injury that kept him sidelined through the first half of training camp.

To read more about Steele, check out this write-up from the Cowboys Wire’s off-season countdown.

[vertical-gallery id=653983][vertical-gallery id=653736][lawrence-newsletter]

Report: La’el Collins to join Lee on IR to start, has domino effect on 53

Things aren’t sweet on the injury front, as it appears the Cowboys don’t have a solid solution to protect Dak Prescott’s front side to start the season.

Losing Sean Lee for the first few games of the season wasn’t a deal breaker   for the Dallas Cowboys. Despite playing in all 16 games in 2019, the now-backup linebacker is oft injured and it should’ve surprised no one that he wasn’t ready to go for training camp or to start the season.

But when UDFA OT Terrence Steele made the 53-man roster, that was one of the shockers. The other shoe has dropped, as the Cowboys are carrying five tackles because one of the starters is getting ready to hit IR along with Lee. La’el Collins is not ready to go to start the season and will be on the list, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer.

The Covid-19 season has it’s own set of rules and regulations, and the injured reserve list will have a major impact on roster compositioNFL teams can bring back as many players from IR as they want to this season, in an effort to ensure teams don’t get ravaged by a coronavirus outbreak. In addition, teams don’t have to wait the minimum eight weeks to bring back a player.

The caveat is the player must be on the opening roster to be IR’d remains, so the team will still have to risk cutting a player they intend to bring back to fill the void of another player they plan to place on the reserve list.

Collins was reportedly out of shape after the loss of the offseason and started training camp doing rehab work and not team drills. Those reports are now being refuted by his agent who says Collins had been dealing with a hip injury.

Later in camp, he was involved in a car accident that reportedly wasn’t to have lingering effects. He first returned to practice on August 27. He missed practice as recently as Thursday and this is the confirmation he is not healthy enough to start the year.

His backup, swing tackle Cam Erving has only recently begun practicing himself, and last year’s late-season call up Brandon Knight missed time at the beginning of camp as well. While Tyron Smith missed a few practices, he was healthy for most of it and is expected to be fine to start the opener.

Adding Steele to the roster was out of necessity as Dallas waived/injured Mitch Hyatt and Wyatt Miller, both of who are on IR for the year.

The move has domino impact.

Perhaps the Cowboys surprisingly carrying four tight ends on the initial roster (Blake Jarwin, Blake Bell, Dalton Schultz and rookie Sean McKeon) is because the team may end up forced to help out the right tackle on occasion for the first few weeks in trying to protect Dak Prescott. As high-flying as the Cowboys offense should be, perhaps the 11 and 20 personnel packages have to wait a few weeks before they can be regularly implemented if Dallas needs to run more 12 to keep a second tight end in to block.

Speaking of Prescott, he of the franchise tag; there has to be elevated concern for his well being with how things are shaking out to start the year along the line. Erving is a swing tackle whose performances have fluctuated throughout his career. Lining up next to Zack Martin will help, but it isn’t a magical elixir that will make him as good as Collins.

The Cowboys offense should be fine at the end of the day, but there are a lot more trepidation now that Collins will miss nearly the first 20% of the 2020 season.

[vertical-gallery id=653648][lawrence-newsletter]

Report: Chiefs not expected to pick up club option for OL Cam Erving

Cam Erving joined the Kansas City Chiefs via trade in 2017.

The Kansas City Chiefs have three players with club options for the 2020 season. They’ll have to decide whether they want to bring each of those players back and it appears we already have one decision.

According to Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor, the Chiefs are not expected to pick up the 2020 option for versatile offensive lineman Cameron Erving. He started eight games for Kansas City this season with an injury to LT Eric Fisher.

The 27-year-old Erving joined the Chiefs via trade in 2017, just before the start of the NFL season. He’s since appeared in 40 games with Kansas City as one of their most valuable reserve players along the offensive line.

The Chiefs currently have several players at the position who are under contract for the 2020 season who could possibly serve as replacements. Those players include Martinas Rankin, Jackson Barton and Greg Senat. Rankin was acquired at the start of the season in a trade sending Carlos Hyde to the Texans. Barton was signed off the Colts practice squad following an injury to Rankin. Senat was claimed off waivers early in the season, but was sent to injured reserve ahead of Week 8.

The decision to let Erving go will free up $3.2 million in cap space for the 2020 season. They’ll still have to find ways to create more salary cap space this offseason. The front office will need to decide on club options for both RB Damien Williams and LB Damien Wilson before the new league year begins in March.