7:25pm: The Cowboys will be without one of their new receiving weapons to start the season as wideout James Washington has suffered a foot injury today in training camp, according to Todd Archer of ESPN. The former second-round pick will undergo surgery tomorrow and is looking at six to ten weeks of recovery after suffering a fractured right foot.
Cowboys fans must be sick and tired at this point of fractures in their athletes’ feet. A fifth-metatarsal fracture held former star wide receiver Dez Bryant out for six weeks in 2015, and DeMarcus Lawrence for 10 games last season. If Washington is out for the minimum prediction of six weeks, that will hold him out through the first week of the season.
3:40pm: The Cowboys’ new-look receiving corps will be lighter on experience this year, and a Monday injury may push this situation more in that direction.
After being carted away from practice, James Washington is feared to have suffered a Jones fracture in his foot, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The offseason addition is going through an MRI. The exam confirming these fears would lead to a lengthy absence for Washington, who was likely to be a key contributor for the Cowboys — especially early in the season.
Jones fractures shelved both Derrick Henry and Deebo Samuel over the past two seasons. Henry missed more than two months of action because of his injury, though the Titans were careful with their All-Pro running back and held him out through their first-round bye. Samuel, who suffered his Jones fracture in mid-June 2020, did not return until early October of that season.
Although Washington had fallen out of favor in Pittsburgh, Dallas added him as part of its post-Amari Cooper mix. The team will not have recently re-signed Michael Gallup to start the season, with the fifth-year target confirming his ACL tear will not allow for a Week 1 return. The Cowboys used a third-round pick on South Alabama’s Jalen Tolbert as well. The team also returns veteran role player Noah Brown, a sixth-year contributor. CeeDee Lamb, of course, will be the team’s top target after the trade of Cooper.
Washington, a 2018 second-rounder who saw the Steelers continue their run of Day 2 wideout picks with Diontae Johnson (2019) and Chase Claypool (2020), has a 735-yard receiving season on his resume. The Oklahoma State product got there alongside ex-college teammate Mason Rudolph in 2019. But Johnson and Claypool surpassed him with the Steelers in subsequent years, and the team — as it does with most of its wideout talent — let him walk after his rookie deal expired.
release with an inury designation and sign a vet
Get OBJ
Dez Bryant and TO are just a phone call away.
Cole Beasley has entered the chat….
I really hope not…would prefer Will Fuller, and maybe more Pollard and Tolbert in the slot.
A fractured foot that required surgery and a 6–10-week recovery. He will be back by week 4 against the Washington Team, not the end of the world.
I mean it’s not like he is out six weeks for non-violently sexually assaulting 20+ women.
If the Cowboys rush James Washington back, he will be at half speed and reinjure himself within the first three weeks back and then be lost for the season. Much better to bring Washington back in week eight or nine at full speed.