Cowboys To Place La’El Collins On IR
7:24pm: Collins’ recovery timeline actually hovers between 10-12 weeks, per David Moore of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). The surgery on the 23-year-old guard’s big toe is expected to shelve him until December.
7:17pm: La’El Collins‘ toe injury sustained Sunday night will send him to IR, according to Zac Jackson of Pro Football Talk. The second-year guard suffered a torn toe ligament against the Bears and will miss 8-10 games, after which the Cowboys could bring him back.
The Cowboys can activate one player from IR this season. Tony Romo remains on the team’s active roster, so his timetable would not interfere with a potential Collins return.
It’s a blow to a Cowboys offensive line coming off a strong performance, but the team has depth after keeping Ronald Leary on its roster despite trade rumors surrounding the backup guard throughout the offseason. A surprise UDFA who was pegged to go off the 2015 draft board in the first round before being connected with a murder investigation, Collins seized the starting left guard job from Leary after five games last season.
The Cowboys declined to trade Leary earlier this offseason, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Now, having the veteran as a swing lineman could be crucial since he’ll slip back into his former position in about as seamless of a transition as could be for a team that just lost a promising blocker.
Leary, though, started 35 games between 2013-15 and was part of the line that sprung DeMarco Murray to the 2014 rushing title. He’s a free agent after the season and, after wanting to go elsewhere to showcase his abilities, the fifth-year player will have a chance to do so in Dallas while Collins recovers.
Dallas was without Tyron Smith as well Sunday night, but the left tackle stalwart’s injury is not believed to be nearly as serious as Collins despite his missing the Chicago tilt.
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Cowboys OL La’El Collins Out For 6-10 Weeks?
Cowboys offensive lineman La’el Collins is believed to have torn a ligament in his foot, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Collins will be out for 6-10 weeks and a forthcoming second opinion will determine whether he needs surgery. 
Collins was rated as a top talent in the 2015 draft but a bizarre set of circumstances led him to sign a UDFA contract with the Cowboys. The Cowboys came away with a first-round talent in the guard, but they’ll now have to wait until November or later to see him on the field again.
The Cowboys will miss having Collins in the lineup, but they must be especially grateful to have Ronald Leary as a fill-in. Leary tried to force his way out of Dallas this offseason so that he could start elsewhere, but the Cowboys did not find an offer to his liking. Now, Leary once again has an opportunity to shine. Leary was on the field for only 137 pass snaps and 84 run snaps in 2015, according to the stats compiled by Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Although he did not qualify to be ranked based on that limited sample size, Leary was given an overall grade of 72.2, which would have placed him among the top 30 guards in the NFL last season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Greg Hardy Arrested On Drug Charge
Former Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy was arrested late Sunday night on a drug possession charge, according to Claire Z. Cardona of The Dallas Morning News. Hardy has been a free agent since the conclusion of the 2015 season. 
The former Pro Bowler was stopped shortly before midnight on a traffic violation. When cops pulled Hardy over, they found that he was in possession of a “group 1” controlled substance. In the state of Texas, there are a number of drugs that fall within that category, so it is not immediately clear what Hardy was caught with.
In terms of pure talent, Hardy is arguably the most fearsome defensive free agent in the NFL. Of course, it is his off-the-field baggage that has left him without a job. Hardy’s well-publicized domestic violence incident kept him out of the game for most of 2014 and the first quarter of the 2015 season. In 12 games for the Cowboys last season, Hardy totaled 35 tackles, six sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble. While those aren’t bad numbers by any means, they weren’t in line with Hardy’s previous work. Between 2011 and 2013, the former sixth-round pick averaged 56 tackles and 10 sacks a season.
Hardy was already facing an uphill battle to get back into the NFL, but that possibility seems more remote than ever.
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Prescott Not Drawing Praise From John Fox
- John Fox‘s team enters a Sunday-night Cowboys tilt at 0-2, but the second-year Bears coach didn’t second-guess his team for passing on fourth-round pick Dak Prescott in the draft. “Truth be told, I don’t know how much we would be talking about Dak,” Fox said, via Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times. “A lot of it in this case has been the opportunity, and he’s made the most of it. I’m not downgrading what he’s accomplished, but it’s how a lot of guys make their mark. Everybody starts off as a nobody, they get an opportunity, they have success, and now everybody’s aware of them.” Prescott enters Week 3 having completed 63% of his passes for 519 yards in relief of Tony Romo. He’s yet to throw a touchdown pass
Latest On Tony Romo’s Recovery
There’s no update on a return date for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, but ESPN.com’s Todd Archer reports that the veteran signal-caller is recovering nicely from the compression fracture in his back. The 36-year-old even went as far as to throw some passes before last weekend’s victory over the Redskins.
“He’ll just keep doing more unless there’s something that concerns us, but right now everything is looking great,” executive vice president Stephen Jones told Archer, “and he’s feeling good and certainly feels good about the progress he’s making.”
Romo was injured midway through the preseason, and the quarterback was originally given a six- to 10-week recovery timetable. Instead of placing Romo on the injured reserve (and opening an additional roster spot), the team kept the veteran on their roster with the hope that he’d be back in early November. There was initially hope that Romo could return for his team’s Oct. 30 game against the Eagles, but Archer notes that the following week’s contest against the Browns may be more realistic. Of course, Jones wasn’t eager to declare a definitive timeframe for Romo’s return.
“There’s a good chance you’ll probably see him practice and he may not play in a game in terms of contact,” Jones said. “Now, we’ve got to manage through that as we get closer to that time.”
Romo only played in four games in 2015, tossing five touchdowns and seven interceptions. He played 15 games in 2014, completing nearly 70-percent of his throws for 3,705 yards, 34 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Rookie Dak Prescott has filled in admirably for Romo through two games, leading the Cowboys to a 1-1 record.
As Archer notes, the team may have rushed Romo back too quickly last season. After missing seven games with a broken collarbone, the quarterback returned for only two contests before breaking the same bone. Fortunately, considering Prescott’s success so far, the team has no reason to rush back their veteran leader.
“I think every injury is different, so everybody wants to say, ‘Well, you rushed him back last time and he got hurt,’” Jones said. “I think unfortunately it was a tough lick there that happened to hit him just right again. At the same time we’re not going to unless he’s ready and the doctors feel he’s ready, then we won’t push it.”
Practice Squad Updates: 9/22/16
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Cleveland Browns
- Cut: P Michael Palardy
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: C Shane McDermott
- Cut: C Jake Brendel (Twitter link via Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News)
Denver Broncos
San Diego Chargers
- Signed: WR Isaiah Burse
- Cut: WR Jonathan Krause (Twitter link via Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego)
Latest On Tony Romo's Recovery
- Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had a back exam and a brief pregame throwing session in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, Ed Werder of ESPN.com tweets. One observer was surprised by Romo’s velocity and lack of restrictions. The 36-year-old is hoping to return sometime in October and it seems he is on track to do just that.
Randy Gregory Drops Suspension Appeal
Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory withdrew the appeal of his 10-game suspension for multiple violations of NFL’s Substance Abuse policy, sources tell Adam Schefter and Todd Archer of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Gregory, who is in the midst of a separate four-game ban, will be suspended through Week 14. Gregory will be eligible to return in Week 15. 
Gregory, 24 in November, exited rehab last week. While he can return to the Cowboys this season, it’s not a given that he will take the field if he is not in football shape. Over the next month or two, we should get a better idea of where Gregory stands.
Gregory dealt with an ankle sprain early in his rookie season and we didn’t see a ton of action from him in 2015. From a talent perspective, Gregory was considered to be one of the draft’s best talents. However, his off-the-field issues caused him to sink all the way to No. 60, where Dallas grabbed him.
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PFR’s Impact Rookies Series
All summer long, longtime scouting consultant Dave-Te Thomas of The NFL Draft Report has been breaking down the draft class of every team in the league and identifying the players that can immediately make a difference. The Impact Rookies series, which wrapped up today with a look at the Seahawks, provides unique insight to this year’s NFL freshman class from a veteran guru who worked closely with several teams around the league leading up to the draft.
Here is the full rundown of the Impact Rookies series:
AFC East
AFC North
AFC South
AFC West
NFC East
NFC North
NFC South
NFC West
Alfred Morris: Free Agency Was “Insulting”
For the first time since his four-year tenure with the Redskins ended over the winter, Cowboys running back Alfred Morris will face his former team this Sunday.
Morris spoke Wednesday about his final season in Washington, telling reporters (including John Keim of ESPN.com), “By the end of the year, I figured my time there was gone. You’re not the coach’s guy, you’re not the GM’s guy, they draft a young guy. It’s a business, so I expected that. They just had a different plan and I wasn’t a part of it and that was OK.”
When the Redskins selected Morris in the sixth round of the 2012 draft, Mike Shanahan was at the helm as their head coach. Morris had a tremendous rookie year under Shanahan, rushing 335 times for 1,613 yards and 13 touchdowns, and he was also excellent in his second season (276 attempts, 1,275 yards, seven scores). The Redskins then ousted Shanahan in favor of Jay Gruden, and Morris’ numbers began falling off considerably. The ex-Florida Atlantic Owl still racked up 1,000-plus yards and eight scores in 2014, but his attempts (265) and yards-per-carry average (4.1) hit career lows. Those numbers further declined last year for Morris, who failed to approach 1,000 yards (751), put up just 3.7 yards per tote and scored a meager one touchdown.
Fresh off his career-worst showing, Morris hit the open market. Once there, he only drew interest from the Broncos, Dolphins and Cowboys, leading to disdain for a process that he called “insulting.”
“I didn’t like it one bit. I don’t want to do it again,” he said.
On settling for a two-year, $5.5MM deal with the Redskins’ NFC East rivals, the Cowboys, he stated, “Eventually Dallas came knocking. I did a visit and it just seemed like a good fit. So I said, ‘Why not?’ It’s a rival team, but I didn’t even think about that. I was a kid trying to keep his dream alive and it just happened to fall to the rival team.”
Morris’ chances to make an impact with the Cowboys seemingly took a hit when they selected former Ohio State star rusher Ezekiel Elliott with the fourth overall pick in April’s draft. After all, Dallas already had Darren McFadden, who impressed last year, and Lance Dunbar on its depth chart. However, McFadden has since gone on the shelf with an elbow injury that will cost him several weeks of the season, thus opening the door again for Morris.
As expected, Elliott was the Cowboys’ bell cow in their season-opening loss to the Giants, but Morris was effective in a secondary role (seven carries, 35 yards). The Redskins, meanwhile, failed to establish a running game with second-year back Matt Jones in a 38-16 loss to Pittsburgh and yielded 143 yards to the Steelers’ DeAngelo Williams. If Washington’s Week 1 performance is any indication, Elliott and Morris should have productive showings Sunday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.