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Morris Claiborne Called Out By Dallas Cowboys Exec Stephen Jones

"Our young guys got to get healthy, there's no excuse. All of them."

Those were the words of Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, speaking about the young players on his roster. Injuries are inevitable in training camp, and with the preseason schedule about to roll out, the pressure is on the players to get on the field and prove themselves.

As far as Jones is concerned, his number one target is rookie cornerback Morris Claiborne. Per a conversation on a local radio show in Dallas, his time needs to be now.

"Mo Claiborne's got to get out there. The times he's been out there, it's been impressive. But he certainly can't make the club in the tub, if you will. He's got to get out there. It's time. We got to start having a mentality that we're going to play through things. You don't ever see Jason Witten missing practice, and he's going on 10 [seasons]. He just won't miss. So, we got to have the young guys step up and play better." - Stephen Jones

To be fair, Morris Claiborne should not fear being cut from the roster, but one of the worst labels anyone can ever get is being "injury-prone." Is Jones justified in these statements? Just depends how hurt Claiborne actually is, because it can't be that necessary to put your prized commodity at risk in practice and preseason games...right?

Read more about the Cowboys at Blogging the Boys and SB Nation Dallas. Head over to the NFL hub page for additional news and analysis around the league.

Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.