FRISCO, Texas — After injuring his knee on a 49-yard reception against the Ravens on Saturday, further testing revealed Cowboys wide receiver Jonathan Mingo suffered a sprained PCL and could miss four-to-six weeks.
Mingo, who the Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for at last year's trade deadline, now could start the season on injured reserve and miss the team's first four games.
The third-year wide receiver had been turning heads at Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, building excitement heading into his first full season with the Cowboys. His deep-ball catch against the Ravens was his only one in the preseason, which was good enough to lead the team in receiving yards that night.
After Saturday's game, Mingo was able to walk to the locker room under his own power, but said Monday he hasn't dealt with any kind of injury like this before in his career.
"Just trying to take precautionary measures," Mingo said of the injury. "Something felt a little weird, so I just went and talked to [the Cowboys' training staff.] Just tyring to go about it the right way."
The team's final cuts are eight days away on August 26, which is also the day that the Cowboys can placed up to two players on injured reserve in order to create some room on the 53-man roster.
If the Cowboys do decide to place Mingo on IR next Tuesday, the open roster spot could go to another wide receiver. One, if not more of Ryan Flournoy, Jalen Cropper, Jalen Brooks, Traeshon Holden and Josh Kelly could end up taking the extra spot.
That makes the final two padded practices as well as Friday's preseason finale against the Falcons all the more important for the receivers in the room, who have been presented an opportunity to earn a spot that may not have been there if Mingo stayed healthy.
