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Cowboys Capsules: Cowboys' Bryant out 4-6 weeks with ankle sprain
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Cowboys rookie receiver Dez Bryant could miss the rest of training camp after the first-round draft pick suffered a high right ankle sprain near the end of practice Friday. The team said he will be out four to six weeks.
Bryant became entangled with cornerback Orlando Scandrick while trying to catch a pass that was thrown behind him on the next-to-last play of the day. It quickly became apparent that something was wrong.
Bryant didn't immediately get up, and when he finally did gingerly get to his feet while taking his helmet off, he took only a step before falling back to the turf. Bryant was reaching for his ankle and grimacing in obvious pain. Two trainers who checked on him helped him off the field.
Though the Cowboys have an extended camp with five preseason games because of their game in Canton, Ohio, next weekend, the injury could keep Bryant from playing until the regular season. The last preseason game is at home Sept. 2, which is five weeks away. The season opener is Sept. 12 at Washington.
After Bryant had been evaluated by doctors, the team announced in a camp update more than two hours after practice that he would be out the extended time.
Scandrick said right after practice that he initially thought Bryant was OK because the receiver "started to get up."
While Scandrick then said Bryant had tweaked an ankle a couple of days ago, coach Wade Phillips said the rookie receiver wasn't being bothered by any ankle issues before practice Friday.
Phillips said Scandrick did nothing wrong on the play that Bryant got hurt on while trying to catch a pass from backup quarterback Jon Kitna.
"(Scandrick) made a play on the ball. That's what we expect," Phillips said. "The ball was thrown behind the guy."
The Cowboys have two practices scheduled Saturday and two more Sunday, a week before their preseason opener against Cincinnati as part of Pro Football Hall of Fame induction weekend.
Bryant impressed on the field the first seven days of training camp, making routine and spectacular catches in individual and team drills. He has also has been returning kicks, but now will get an unwanted break.
Dallas was already without the other of its top three draft picks.
Linebacker Sean Lee, the second-round pick, has been out the past few days with a quadriceps strain but hopes to return this weekend. Safety Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, the fourth-round pick, hasn't practiced at camp because of a hamstring injury while coming back from offseason shoulder surgery.
"You don't like to see them out. If it happens, you have to deal with it," Phillips said.
"The rest of the receivers, we've got to step up," receiver Patrick Crayton said about Bryant's injury even before the extent of it was known. "You never want any teammate, especially a receiver, to get hurt."
Crayton was given permission to seek a trade and then skipped most voluntary offseason workouts after the Cowboys drafted Bryant 24th overall in April. But Crayton was at all mandatory workouts this summer and has worked hard as always during camp.
Bryant was limited to only three games at Oklahoma State last season because of his NCAA suspension for lying to investigators about a meeting with former Cowboys star Deion Sanders. But Dallas traded up three spots to get Bryant.
Before getting hurt during the 10th practice session, everything had been good on the field for Bryant during camp.
"We do have an extra week, which (Bryant) has taken advantage of, being here and learning all those things," Phillips said. "He's actually done real well as far as assignments are concerned."
The only hiccup at camp had been Bryant's refusal to carry veteran teammate Roy Williams' shoulder pads after practice last Sunday. Bryant said then that he was drafted to play football and not carry another player's gear.
But two days later, after the story spread quickly and widely, Bryant said he was unaware of the rookie ritual and that everything was OK with Williams and the rest of his teammates. Bryant said had no problem with another rookie ritual of paying for meals.
Bryant arrived before the start of training camp after becoming the first of the NFL's first-round picks to agree to a contract. He got a five-year deal that guarantees him at least $8.3 million.
Expectations high, many weights down for Cowboys
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Pro Bowl linebacker DeMarcus Ware says he's nearly 10 pounds lighter, which is making him feel stronger and faster during the Dallas Cowboys' training camp. Anthony Spencer feels the same after shedding a few pounds during the offseason.
"A lot of guys are a lot lighter this year, because it's all predicated now, our defense, we have those big guys in the middle and we're running a lot more than the bigger guys," said Ware, now in the 255-pound range. "We need to bring a little bit more speed to the table, a little bit more sort of versatility. We sort of shrunk down a little bit."
Cornerback Mike Jenkins also is a few pounds lighter, but the thinning trend isn't confined to the guys playing the 3-4 defense, or only the players for the NFC East champion Cowboys who have still have rising expectations.
Bruising running back Marion Barber thinned down so much that at 218 pounds he actually weighs about two pounds less than speedy tailback Felix Jones. Even quarterback Tony Romo came to camp about five pounds lighter than expected, at around 223 pounds.
Coach Wade Phillips, who himself lost about 40 pounds since last season, believes even those minor shifts in body weight will help the players maximize their talents.
"I always tell them I want them to run as fast as they can. That's really what you want to be able to do," Phillips said. "(Weight loss) usually helps your quickness, but again you have to be a certain size. You can't be a 250-pound defensive lineman. But I like them quick and fast."
The 63-year-old coach, who is also the defensive coordinator and added the title of grandfather the week before camp, proved to be quite an example with his weight loss. He is clearly moving much more nimbly on the field.
"It's good to see Wade moving around and not breathing hard out here," linebacker Bradie James said. "It's good to see that he's a little bit more healthier and we know he'll be around. He'll definitely be giving us his all."
During some defensive drills Friday, Phillips was actively moving with the players while teaching at the same time. He even played the role of an end, dropping back and taking the initial steps with a receiver in a pass-coverage drill for defensive backs.
After the horn blew ending a drill earlier this week, when the offense and defense were on the opposite ends of the field, Sam Hurd caught a pass and was running toward midfield. Phillips was coming from the other end and broke down in a defensive stance in front of Hurd, who responded with a playful move to get around the coach.
Ware, the team's sacks leader with more than 10 in each of the last four seasons, said the heaviest he was in college as a defensive end at Troy was 242 his senior year. He had to gain weight to play linebacker in the NFL, and had bulked up to the 262-265 range last season.
"I feel a lot quicker," Ware said. "That extra added poundage tears you down at the end of the season, but now I feel really fresh."
Still, the thing that Phillips finds hard to believe is that "Felix Jones is heavier than Marion Barber."
Barber wanted to lose a few pounds for quickness, and the coach believes that will benefit the hard-charging runner. At the same time, Jones said it was his choice to add some muscle.
"I'm kind of filling into my body," the 23-year-old Jones said. "Working hard this offseason, I put on a little bit of muscle. Not anything else, straight muscle."
Asked if he feels fat, Jones quickly responded, "Not at all, not at all."
Phillips chuckles when asked how many pounds he has lost and why he did it. He wouldn't get into specifics on how much he weighed then and now.
"When you're younger, it's 'boy you look like you're in good shape and you're really doing good.' When you're older, they say are you sick," Phillips said. "It's just something personally I wanted to do."
Asked how he did it, Phillips mentioned Nutrisystem and joked that maybe he could be doing commercials for the weight-loss system endorsed by Hall of Fame coach Don Shula.
Former Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton, who once weighed as much as 411 pounds, went a little more extreme to slim down. He had a surgical procedure for a gastric sleeve that dramatically decreased the size of his stomach.
Newton, now working for ESPN Radio in Dallas, is almost unrecognizable on the sideline at training camp. Since the procedure in April, Newton has lost 133 pounds — from 396 to 263 — and his waist size has decreased from 56 to 40 inches.
"Nobody recognizes me. Nobody knows me if I don't open my mouth," Newton said with a smile. "I didn't want to die because of fat-related (symptoms), because I got diabetes, because I got high blood pressure. I don't want a heart attack because I'm 400 and something pounds."
NOTES: TE Martellus Bennett made his camp debut Friday after missing the first six days because of a sprained ankle sustained in a personal workout before getting to San Antonio. ... There were plenty of boos heard in the Alamodome. They were directed at a fan wearing a Washington Redskins T-shirt and cap who sat only a few rows from the field.
-- Stephen Hawkins
Cowboys TE Bennett makes training camp debut
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett is making his training camp debut.
Bennett missed all nine practices the first six days of camp after spraining his ankle during a personal workout before getting to San Antonio.
As coach Wade Phillips has anticipated, Bennett was in pads for the first time Friday for the Cowboys' only practice of the day.
Bennett, the third-year player from Texas A&M, had been doing rehabilitation work on the side throughout camp while on the physically unable to perform list.
