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Sean Lee is helped off the field today by trainers at Cowboys practice.
IRVING — Sean Lee screamed in frustration as he was escorted off the field Tuesday.
In the team’s first organized team activity, the veteran middle linebacker hurt his left knee when he collided with rookie right guard Zack Martin and fell to the turf after trying to defend a screen pass. Club officials said Lee was sliding when his knee appeared to give out before Martin fell over the top of him.
Trainers immediately went to aid Lee as his teammates turned silent upon realizing what had happened.
“I don’t really know what happened, two guys playing hard and running to the ball, so we’ll see what happens,” Martin said. “It sucks to see someone go down. It happens and I can only hope for the best.”
Lee will visit doctors in the afternoon to determine the extent of his injury. But club officials fear it’s a significant injury. After the practice, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett seemed troubled by the fact Lee sustained enough contact that he landed on the turf.
“We keep preaching, ‘Stay off the ground. Stay off the ground,’” Garrett said. “That’s a really important thing. Injuries happen when guys hit the ground.”
Lee can attest to that.
The fifth-year veteran has missed 18 games in his career and has yet to play a full season. Last summer, he signed a six-year, $42 million contract, which included playtime incentives that presented Lee with the potential to earn more money if he could stay on the field. But that hasn’t been easy for a player who was one of the Cowboys’ two defensive captains last season and has intercepted more passes than any other linebacker since entering the league in 2010.
As much as Lee has been productive when he has played, he has proved unreliable from an availability standpoint, having missed action because of torn ligaments in his right big toe, a dislocated wrist and pulled hamstrings. This year, he entered the off-season program healthy after recovering from a torn ligament in his neck that caused him to miss the final three weeks of the 2013 campaign.
“He really does everything he can to get himself ready to play,” Garrett said. “Unfortunately he has had to deal with a few of these things.”
Lee entered the league with a well-documented medical history. At Penn State, he missed the 2008 season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The next year, he sprained his left knee, causing him to miss three games.
“I have heard about his injury bug,” said newly-acquired running back Ryan Williams, who has played only five games since he was drafted in the second round in in 2011. “I can relate to that….It’s just one of those things. Stuff happens time and time again. I am praying for him and wish him nothing but the best.”
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