The Dallas Cowboys are in a very tough situation after losing Sean Lee at linebacker and now the team could look at a trade with Morris Claiborne for Larry Foote or Chad Greenway with the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings, while names like Jonathan Vilma, Ernie Sims, Dan Connor and Kelvin Sheppard are free agent options for the team.
Lee has dealt with numerous injuries in his career and now he has suffered another one and this comes after the Cowboys signed him to a big extension. According to ESPN.com, Lee has a torn ACL that was sustained on the first day of team camp workouts and now he will be placed on IR and will miss the entire season. Lee has dealt with numerous injuries in the past while at Penn State and with the Cowboys and now names like Sims and Vilma could be the main options to replace him. The Cowboys have been weak up the middle without Lee, but they have experience playing without him and replacing him and now they have to go through that again.
Claiborne likely will not be traded this late into the offseason and also because he is young and has potential, but the Cowboys have players that can step in for him and after losing Lee again after having a rough year on D, they may have to think outside the box. ESPN.com writer Field Yates speculated that the Cowboys could trade Claiborne eventually since he has not turned into a shutdown corner after the traded up to draft him and he suggested the Arizona Cardinals could acquire him to team with Patrick Peterson. The team is strong at linebacker and they could trade someone like Larry Foote, but they literally just lost Daryl Washington to a suspension and also Karlos Dansby to free agency with the Browns, so that deal is unlikely now.
The Dallas Cowboys come into the season after missing the playoffs once again last year and they went 8-8 and finished behind the Eagles despite going 5-1 in the NFC East. The only loss was in that final game against the Eagles that would have clinched the playoffs and the team was forced to play without Tony Romo after he was injured the previous week. The Cowboys ranked 24th in rushing yards per game last season and they are hoping adding Ryan Williams can help DeMarco Murray, while the team was 14th overall in passing yards per game.
The Cowboys defense was a mess last season and that is why losing Lee hurts even more. The team ranked 27th in rushing yards allowed per game and 30th in passing yards allowed per game and they need to get those numbers at least into the middle of the league. Romo is likely going to have another solid year, but as he gets into his mid-thirties, time is running out for him and the Cowboys and Jerry Jones could be losing some patience. The team opens the season with the 49ers, so there will be no time to get up to speed this year and that puts even more pressure on Romo and company.
