Out in Oxnard, the Dallas Cowboys training camp practices have begun in earnest–without pads, but those are coming and, in fact, coach Brian Schotteheimer said there will be more hitting and padwork than there was a year ago in his first camp. One of the early bits of good fortune for this summer has been a lack of injuries, with utterly clean physically unable to perform and non-football injury lists, making the Cowboys a rarity across the NFL. But then, on the first real day of practice, there was a scare: new safety PJ Locke hobbled off into the medical tent in what looked like a non-contact injury to his knee.
NFL fans, or fans of any sport, really, know that the gloom of ACL trouble usually follows non-contact knee injuries. Locke, who signed as a free agent this offseason after spending six years with the Broncos, has the chance to earn a starting position as a safety this summer, and this was not a promising opening salvo in that campaign.
PJ Locke Suffers Knee Injury in Cowboys 1st Practice
But not long after Locke reported to the tent, word came down that there was no reason to panic. The injury took place late in Cowboys practice, and Locke did not return.
Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News reported on Wednesday evening that Locke suffered a hyperextended knee. He described the play: “Locke limped off the field with roughly half an hour left in the team’s first training camp practice. He was back pedaling during a play and appeared to injure his left knee when he planted on it. It was a non-contact injury. Locke walked alongside Jim Maurer, the team’s head trainer, off the field. He didn’t return.”
Brian Broaddus, the former Cowboys scout who now covers the team for different media entities, noted on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, from Oxnard, “It’s a knee injury with our guy Locke, but I was tagged, it should be OK. So, knee injury, but should be OK.”
PJ Locke Has History With Christian Parker
While Locke might not start for the Cowboys, he is expected to be part of what will be a versatile safety group led by No. 11 overall pick Caleb Downs, top free-agent signing Jalen Thompson and incumbent Malik Hooker. The group is one of the strengths of the defense and figures to be used all over the field–not just up the middle, but covering in the slot, in the box as extra linebackers and even outside.
Locke brings something to the secondary other players in the room don’t have–experience working with Christian Parker, the new Cowboys defensive coordinator who had previously been the defensive backs coach in Philadelphia and, before that, in Denver. There he helped mentor Locke.
Cowboys Opened Camp Completely Healthy
Yesterday in his press conference opening up Cowboys camp, Schottenheimer noted that injuries were down on the list of the team’s worries. He said that defensive lineman Donovan Ezeiruaku and defensive back DaRon Bland were being monitored, but that everyone would open camp ready to participate.
noted on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas: “EZ and DaRon will be the two guys that we’ll just monitor but we don’t see any restrictions. We’re just going to be smart with them because they missed the spring. But we’re very, very healthy going into camp and hopefully it stays that way.”
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Cowboys Newcomer Logs First Injury Concern of Training Camp appeared first on HEAVY.