There is more bad news regarding Dallas Cowboys rookie cornerback Morris Claiborne's MCL sprain. The bad news is that Claiborne will be miss about a weeks worth of practices, and the teams goal is to have him healthy enough and prepared for their season opener on Sept. 5 against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. There is good news is that his MCL sprain is minor and there is no structural damage to his knee, but missing the reps in practice will set him back.
Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan knows it will be difficult for Claiborne to make up the missed practice time to be ready to see significant time in the season opener:
"Any time you miss time, it's tough. Especially when you're a young guy," Ryan said. "I know he's going to be in there with Jerome Henderson and Joe Baker, two fantastic coaches, so he can stay up mentally that way. But no rep's as good as the one on the field. It's going to be tough on him but he's got to do extra. He's going to have to really work hard to be where we want him to be on opening day."
The expectations for Claiborne have been extremely high since he was picked No. 6 overall this past year in the draft. All Claiborne can do now is rehab to get back on the field as quickly as possible and study the playbook so he knows what to do when he is on the field.
For more training camp coverage of the Cowboys, check out Blogging The Boys as well as this SB Nation Dallas StoryStream.