Tag: local

Report: Surgery for Cowboys’ Trevon Diggs to include bone graft, increasing rehab time

From @ToddBrock24f7: The procedure should stimulate growth and strength, but it requires a longer recovery and could cost Diggs a big chunk of the 2025 season.

More details are coming out about the latest injury suffered by Trevon Diggs, but what’s becoming increasingly clear is that the Cowboys will be without their star cornerback for a long time.

The surgery to repair his left knee will require a bone graft to address cartilage damage, according to multiple sources, and it will prolong his recovery time even further than originally anticipated.

While the team had been hopeful that the two-time Pro Bowler would be able to return to action around the start of the 2025 regular season, this latest news makes that timetable extraordinarily unlikely.

“I hope it’s definitely sooner,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said Friday, per ProFootballTalk. “But this is a big recovery for Trevon. It’s way too early for me to speculate on that.”

The injury reportedly occurred during the team’s Week 14 game against Cincinnati. Diggs tore the ACL in the same knee early in the 2023 season and missed 15 outings, but this injury is said to be a different issue.

The former second-round draft pick played every snap of the 27-20 loss and even began the next week of practice on a limited basis before consultation with the Cowboys medical staff determined that he should sit out the Week 15 trip to Charlotte to face the Panthers.

“He was having to play with fluid in his knee,” Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones said last week. “It’s certainly a very legitimate injury that’s gonna take him some time to recover from.”

Initial estimates put his rehab at “up to eight months,” but longtime Cowboys insider Clarence Hill Jr. of AllCity DLLS first posited that Diggs “could possibly miss most of next season.”

News of a planned bone graft lends considerable weight to that more conservative outlook.

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As described by David Moore of the Dallas Morning News, “this is where a new piece of bone is inserted into the damaged area in the same way a pothole is repaired or a gap in a joint is caulked.”

The procedure necessitates a longer recovery time than other options, but it offers a better chance at stimulating growth and strengthening the area.

Wide receiver Noah Brown underwent a similar procedure when he was with the Cowboys, causing him to miss the entire 2019 season.

At the conclusion of the 2024 regular season, Diggs will have played in just 13 of the Cowboys’ last 35 games, including playoffs. And now a sizable chunk of next year’s 17 is also in serious jeopardy.

Diggs, 26, has a $9 million base salary for 2025 that is guaranteed in case of injury.

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WATCH: Netflix drops first trailer for series focusing on Jerry Jones, Cowboys ‘soap opera’

From @ToddBrock24f7: No date for “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys” has been announced, but 1 line from Jones in the trailer certainly sets the tone.

The Cowboys’ current chances of making this postseason are roughly the same as being struck by lightning while being attacked by a shark, but there’s something else being offered up to fans as a timely diversion.

Come to think of it, it’s probably just as much for the franchise’s many haters, too… and it’s coming to small screens everywhere in the coming year.

Netflix has dropped the first official trailer for America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, the new docuseries focusing on billionaire Jerry Jones and his ownership of the most-recognized and highest-valued franchise in sports.

News of the project was announced in May, but there is no premiere date yet established for what was conceived to be a 10-part series of 45-minute episodes.

The short preview posted to social media on Thursday gives glimpses of just some of the notable figures who sat down to be interviewed. Former Cowboys stars Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders, Troy Aikman, Herschel Walker, and Michael Irvin can be seen, as can former President of the United States George W. Bush.

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But no moment in the 30-second clip will get more mileage on the sports-talk circuit- not to mention eye-rolls from Cowboys fans- than a pair of very telling quotes from Jones himself, shown during a montage of historic Cowboys moments.

“It’s bigger than winning football games,” Jones says at one point.

“Keep ’em talking,” he says in a later voiceover. “It’s a soap opera 365 days a year.”

Cowboys fans know that all too well. And though they’d certainly prefer a little less melodrama and a lot more postseason success, they’ll likely be tuning in nevertheless once the Netflix docuseries goes live.

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders was a massive hit for the streaming service in 2024 and has been greenlit for a second season in 2025, continuing the brand’s seemingly never-ending media presence.

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Cowboys bring back former 7th-round draft pick at DT

From @ToddBrock24f7: After a long stint on Cincinnati’s practice squad, Justin Rogers is back with the team that drafted him in the spring.

The Cowboys are bolstering their defensive line depth for the regular season’s final stretch of games by bringing back a familiar face.

Defensive tackle Justin Rogers has been signed off Cincinnati’s practice squad, according to the team. He takes the roster spot of linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who has officially been placed on season-ending injured reserve after suffering a devastating knee injury versus the Bengals on Dec. 9.

Rogers was drafted by the Cowboys in the seventh round of 2024’s draft, selected 244th overall. After spending training camp with the team, he was released on Aug. 26 and signed by the Bengals three days later.

Rogers has not yet made it into a game at the NFL level.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 340-pounder caught the eye of several observers in Oxnard this summer with not only his size but the run-stop skills he showed at Auburn as a college senior and prior to that at Kentucky.

“Been keeping an eye on him,” head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters Thursday. “Fortunate to have the opportunity to bring him back. We still consider him one of ours. … Obviously, we thought enough of him to draft him, so it’ll be great to get him back into the mix.”

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Rogers will join a DT group that currently includes Osa Odighizuwa, Mazi Smith, and Linval Joseph. Denzel Daxon and Phil Hoskins are also listed at the position on the Dallas practice squad.

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Report: Cowboys get encouraging news on recovery timetable for rising star LB

From @ToddBrock24f7: It was feared DeMarvion Overshown would miss all of 2025 with his latest knee injury. Surgery is now done, and his return could come sooner.

The Cowboys have received an encouraging update on the injury front, a rare occurrence in this season that has seen so many of the team’s top playmakers miss multiple games or have their 2024 campaign end prematurely.

DeMarvion Overshown has undergone surgery to repair the right knee triple tear he suffered against the Bengals on Dec. 9, and despite initial fears that the devastating injury could cost him the entire 2025 season, there is now hope for the second-year linebacker to make an earlier return.

Per NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Overshown’s procedure, performed by renowned California-based orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, was deemed “successful,” and the former Texas Longhorn “could return by mid-to-late next season, a far more optimistic timeline than initially expected after the diagnosis.”

Overshown tore his ACL, PCL, and MCL in the fourth quarter of Week 14’s Monday Night loss to Cincinnati. The 24-year-old had been the Cowboys’ second-leading tackler coming into that game, just his 13th game appearance since being drafted in the third round of 2023’s draft.

The Texas native missed his entire rookie year due to an ACL tear in his other knee.

He finished this season with 90 tackles, five sacks, eight TFLs, five QB hits, four passes defended, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and an interception that he returned for a touchdown.

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His Cowboys coaches and teammates were gutted by this latest injury, with Micah Parsons fighting back tears as he spoke to reporters about his “little bro.”

Overshown, though, has kept a positive outlook from the very beginning, posting on social media just hours after the injury, “Wouldn’t want this for anyone else! One of God’s Toughest Soldiers (prayer hands emoji) Keep me in your prayers…”

Patrik Walker of the team website reports that linebacker Marist Liufau, who saw a bump in playing time last week as Overshown’s replacement, has received a post-op text from him stating, “He’s doing well and he’s in good spirits.”

To be clear, Overshown won’t be back in action anytime soon. But it may be a little sooner than once thought.

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‘Something we’ve got to work on’: Cowboys QB Cooper Rush near top of league in this one dubious stat

From @ToddBrock24f7: Rush has 9 fumbles since taking over as the Cowboys starter. Most of the other players with 9 or more have played twice as many snaps.

There’s been plenty to like about Cooper Rush’s play during his latest stint as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. Since Dak Prescott went down in Week 9, Rush has gone 3-3 as the starter, completing 60% of his passes, averaging just over 200 yards per game and- perhaps most important- tossing nine touchdowns to only two interceptions.

It hasn’t been terribly sexy, but he’s filled in admirably. Just this week, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer praised the veteran’s experience, calm demeanor and leadership, even his contributions in helping the running game finally get going after a slow start in 2024.

There is one big-ticket item Rush needs to get a handle on, however: keeping a handle on the ball. The 31-year-old has been credited with nine fumbles since taking over in Dallas, a total that’s third-most in the league.

Some have come on shotgun snaps. Others have come on a bad under-center exchange, and Schottenheimer was quick to point out that not all nine fumbles have necessarily been Rush’s fault alone.

No matter who is to blame, it’s dangerous every time it happens.

Rush had two fumbles on Sunday against Carolina, including a botched red-zone play-action option to Rico Dowdle that turned into a Panthers touchdown just one play later.

Since taking over for Prescott, Rush has had at least one fumble in every game except one this season. And though the team has lost possession on just three of them, it’s something Schottenheimer acknowledges needs to stop.

“There’s a technique that you use in terms of where the ball is extended and how you have to ride it,” he explained to reporters this week. “It’s very technical, but [Cooper] was great; he communicated right after the drive and said, ‘It caught Rico’s hip. It’s on me.'”

But Schottenehimer also shared some of the responsibility for what has become a troubling trend.

“We emphasize it, but obviously we’re not doing a great enough job coaching it. We’ve got to coach it better.”

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Again, Rush’s nine fumbles are currently tied for third-most in the league. While it’s fewer than Kirk Cousins and even Baker Mayfield (who the Cowboys will face in Week 16) and the same as guys like Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, and Lamar Jackson, Rush’s nine fumbles have come on literally half as many snaps as each of those other passers.

Even the Colts’ Anthony Richardson, who also has nine fumbles this year, has played 100 more snaps than Rush.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Rush said Sunday after the team’s 30-14 win in Charlotte. “I’ve got to figure that one out, the zone-read stuff.”

Schottenheimer admitted plays like that one are especially tricky for a backup who’s amassed more time holding a clipboard than staring down live defenses on gameday.

“There’s a decision, right?” the OC explained. “‘Do I hand it? Do I keep it? Do I pull it? Do I pull it and throw?’ There’s a lot of things going through his mind. [It’s] something we’ll certainly continue to emphasize and drill even more.”

This week would be a good time for Schottenheimer and Rush to incorporate those added ball-security drills; Tampa Bay is tied for second place leaguewide in fumble takeaways.

“The fundamentals need to get better and [are] something we’ve got to work on,” Schottenheimer said.

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Report: Cowboys could be without CB Trevon Diggs for quite some time

From @ToddBrock24f7: Diggs will have surgery to repair cartilage in his left knee, Stephen Jones is eyeing Week 1 for his return, but one insider isn’t so sure.

Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs has seen his season end early for the second year in a row due to a knee injury. And although the team is hopeful that it won’t impact his 2025 season, the two-time Pro Bowler could be cutting it close, and that’s the best-case scenario.

Diggs will undergo surgery to repair his left knee after suffering an injury in the team’s Week 14 loss to Cincinnati, the Cowboys announced over the weekend. The issue is reportedly with his articular cartilage, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, and apparently separate from the knee ailment that kept him out of Weeks 12 and 13.

“This is something that occurred during the [Week 14] game,” head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed in his postgame press conference after the team’s 30-14 win over the Panthers.

Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones elaborated on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan on Monday, saying he did not expect Diggs to be ready for training camp next summer and adding, “but I think his timeline will be right at the start of the season.”

Diggs had played every defensive snap of the Monday night meeting with the Bengals and then consulted with the Cowboys’ medical staff during the week. After missing multiple practices and some testing, the decision was made to keep Diggs home from the trip to Charlotte and proceed with plans for surgery.

“He was having to play with fluid in his knee. He was out there doing everything he can because he wants to play, he wants to compete, he wants to contribute,” Jones said of the 26-year-old Diggs.

“It’s certainly a very legitimate injury that’s gonna take him some time to recover from. We got a vision that we can get him ready to do next year.”

In his Monday post to X, Rapoport put the recovery time at “up to eight months.”

But not everyone is ready to automatically pencil Diggs in for Week 1 next fall.

The former second-round draft pick missed most of the 2023 season with an ACL tear in his right knee. Though he was able to be in the starting lineup for that season opener, there are rumblings now that the organization was dissatisfied with the way he approached the rehab stint.

“This is a serious knee injury,” explained longtime insider Clarence Hill Jr. of AllCity DLLS. “He could possibly miss most of next season.”

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Given the financial ramifications of his $97 million contract extension signed in July of 2023 and the return on that investment the team is getting on the field, expect Diggs’s status to be a major storyline for the coming offseason.

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Cowboys’ Rico Dowdle: ‘Definitely can get’ 1,000 yards after 3rd straight triple-digit outing

From @ToddBrock24f7: The undrafted RB didn’t get a starter’s workload until recently, but he’s suddenly within reach of his first 1,000-yard season.

Rico Dowdle had to think for a moment when asked if there’s been a time in his football life when he’s has had better stretch of games than the one he’s currently on.

“Probably not, honestly,” the Cowboys running back said with a smile after compiling a career-high 149 rushing yards in the team’s 30-14 win over the Panthers. “Maybe high school.”

But nothing the 26-year-old ever did at Asheville’s A.C. Reynolds was on the kind of stage he’s on now.

Dowdle is currently sitting on 880 yards rushing yards for the season, 15th-best in the NFL and ahead of some marquee names. His 5.0 yards-per-carry average has him in the top 10. And his success rate- a metric that tracks how often he gains a certain percentage of yards needed to convert, depending on the down- has him ranked second among all running backs leaguewide: better than David Montgomery, better than Bijan Robinson, better than Derrick Henry, better than Saquon Barkley.

So, yeah, you could say Rico’s on a roll.

“This is definitely a great time right now,” told reporters after Sunday’s win. “These past three weeks, those guys have opened it up. It’s been three good weeks in a row.”

Dowdle logged the first 100-yard performance of his five-year career in Week 13’s win over the Giants, ending with 112. He followed that up with 131 last Monday night versus Cincinnati. His 149 versus Carolina- just two hours east of where he played those high school games he talked about- gave him the best three-week string of games by a Cowboys rusher in six years.

That Dowdle wasn’t publicly referred to by his head coach as the team’s definitive starter until Week 11 will forever be one of the great mysteries of the 2024 season. Had the coaching staff not been forcing carries to Ezekiel Elliott for the first two months of the campaign, one can only wonder where his numbers- and the team- would be now.

It certainly crosses Dowdle’s mind.

“It’s all about the rhythm. I’ve been firm on that since the beginning, about the rhythm, getting the attempts,” Dowdle said. “I think we always could have done it, but… it’s working right now for us, so I’m not worried about [what happened] early in the season.”

Mike McCarthy acknowledged that it took some time to get the Cowboys’ ground attack into gear.

“Like any good run game, you need the attempts,” he said from the podium in his postgame press conference Sunday.

“He’s doing a really good job,” he said of Dowdle. “Breaks tackles, he has a violent run style, but his courses and his decision-making has been excellent.”

Even with the late start, Dowdle is within striking distance of his first 1,000-yard season. And his teammates- especially the big linemen blocking up front for him- are locked in to helping Dowdle achieve that goal.

“Rico’s my dog,” guard/center Brock Hoffman said Sunday. “I think he’s a hell of a running back, and I’m just happy that he’s gotten three games in a row over 100 yards. Let’s just keep stacking.”

When informed that Dowdle is just 120 yards away from 1K, Hoffman called his shot.

“That’ll be easy. We’ll get that next game.”

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have something to say about that. The NFC South leaders are giving up just 109 rushing yards per game to opposing teams on the season, but no team has hit triple digits against them since Week 9. In fact, the Bucs have allowed just 70.4 yards on the ground over their last five outings.

Dowdle may have to be patient to hit 1,000 yards.

But then again, he’s had to be patient just to get his opportunity as the Cowboys starter.

“Closing in,” he explained. “Definitely feels good. Definitely want to hit that milestone, with my first year being a starter. Looking for it, definitely can get it.”

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Cowboys safety fined for Week 14 hip-drop tackle vs Bengals

From @ToddBrock24f7: Donovan Wilson used the illegal technique during the 4th-quarter of Monday’s game. The tackle did not draw a penalty at the time.

The NFL has been seeking to take the so-called “hip-drop tackle” out of the sport. Now they’re taking a big chunk of change out of Donovan Wilson’s pocket for deploying it last week.

The league has fined the Cowboys safety $16,883 for his fourth-quarter tackle of Bengals tight end Tanner Hudson during the 27-20 loss Monday night.

The play did not incur a penalty during the game, but league officials have determined that Wilson’s actions met the requirements to be classified as a hip-drop tackle. The move falls under the category of unnecessary roughness and is therefore subject to a fine, even without being flagged on the field.

According to a rule change for the 2024 season, a hip-drop tackle can be called if a player grabs or wraps the runner with both hands or arms and also “unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.”

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The move has caused severe injury to several high-profile players in recent years, including running back Tony Pollard while playing for the Cowboys during the 2022 postseason. San Francisco safety Jimmie Ward used the hip-drop technique to bring Pollard to the ground; Pollard suffered a high ankle sprain and fractured fibula.

Fourteen months after that injury, NFL owners unanimously voted to make it illegal, following a film review of 20,000 tackles that calculated the hip-drop technique resulting in an injury rate “20 times the others.”

Though the hip-drop is punishable on the field with a 15-yard walkoff and an automatic first down, it’s resulted in more monetary fines after the fact than penalties on the field during its first year of enforcement.

Wilson is the first Cowboys player to be fined for a hip-drop tackle. He was previously docked $11,255 for a Week 5 late hit in the team’s win over Pittsburgh.

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Cowboys to lose CB Trevon Diggs for remainder of 2024 season

From @ToddBrock24f7: Diggs missed 15 games last season to an ACL tear. His latest injury is said to be “significant” but unrelated to that earlier one.

The Cowboys’ unceremonious exit to the 2024 season has been long, painful, and gradual. In fact, the team’s top players have been dropping out here and there, one at a time since before Week 1.

Now, another one bites the dust.

Cornerback Trevon Diggs, already ruled out of Sunday’s game versus the Carolina Panthers, is now reportedly facing knee surgery and will miss the remainder of the season.

The news was first reported by Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, who posted the development to X on Saturday, shortly after it had been revealed that Diggs- who had been listed as questionable- would not be traveling with his teammates to Charlotte for their Week 15 matchup.

Diggs had just returned from a two-game absence to appear in Monday night’s date with Cincinnati, playing every defensive snap in the 27-20 loss.

It’s unclear if Diggs re-aggravated that injury or suffered an entirely new one, but an MRI this week on Diggs’s still-problematic left knee showed damage that would require surgery following the season. The decision has been made that the end of his season is now.

WFAA’s Ed Werder reports that, per his source, the injury to Diggs’s knee is “significant,” though specifics have not been made public.

Diggs played just two games in 2023 before an ACL tear- also in the left knee- ended that season, too. When the 2024 campaign finally ends for the Cowboys, the former second-round draft pick out of Alabama will have appeared in only 13 of their last 34 regular-season contests.

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Todd Archer of ESPN cites his own source as saying that this most recent issue “is not related to” the 2023 ACL repair.

Diggs is now the fifth Cowboys’ Pro Bowler to be on injured reserve this season, joining Dak Prescott, Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence, and DaRon Bland. Eight other Cowboys are currently on IR, too.

Prescott and Martin have already seen their seasons come to a premature end due to injury, as have Sam Williams, John Stephens Jr., Markquese Bell, and DeMarvion Overshown.

And now, Diggs.

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CeeDee Lamb 27 yards away from joining exclusive Cowboys club

From @ToddBrock24f7: Lamb is on the verge of his 4th straight 1,000-yard season. Michael Irvin is the only other player in team history to accomplish that feat.

At just 5-8 and on the brink of official elimination from playoff contention, there wouldn’t seem to be much left for the Cowboys to play for. But there is one star player who will have a noteworthy accomplishment well within his grasp when the team lines up to face Carolina in Week 15.

CeeDee Lamb needs just 27 receiving yards to post his fourth straight 1,000-yard season.

While some will argue that the 1,000-yard milestone doesn’t mean what it used to since the inception of the 17-game schedule (28 pass-catchers did it in 2023), it’s still a benchmark achievement.

And how rare is doing it four times in a row? Assuming Lamb hits 1K, he’ll become just the second Cowboy in franchise history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in four consecutive campaigns.

Only Michael Irvin has pulled off that particular feat, topping the millennium mark five times in a row, every season from 1991 to 1995.

In fact, as hard as it may be to believe, Irvin and Jason Witten are the only Cowboys players with four or more 1,000-receiving-yard seasons at all in their careers. Dez Bryant didn’t do it. Drew Pearson didn’t do it. Not Tony Hill, Bob Hayes, or Frank Clarke.

After 64 years of Cowboys football, Lamb will be just the third member of that exclusive club.

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He does still need to gain those 27 yards, but in the 79 regular-season games Lamb has played in since joining the team, he’s failed to hit that number just six times.

The three-time Pro Bowler suffered a shoulder injury in Week 9 but has nevertheless played through it and even leads the league in targets, so mathematically speaking (and knock on wood; he’s been limited in practice this week) it’s just a matter of how soon it happens on Sunday.

“Trying to play as hard as I can, I’m obviously putting myself out there for the benefit of the team,” Lamb said this week. “And of course, myself, I love to compete, but it’s bigger than me.”

Officials certainly won’t stop the game on Sunday to recognize Lamb’s 1,000-yard season. The moment may not even warrant a mention from the broadcast booth. Yes, Lamb’s 27th receiving yard this weekend will put him in elite company within the Cowboys record books, but he’d be the first to say that adding to the left-hand column of the team’s 2024 win-loss record is the more important contribution anyway.

“Be able to win the game, regardless, at the end of the day, you’ve still got to win the game,” he explained, “That’s the motivation.”

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