Mailbag: More injuries now than in past?

(Editor's Note: Time to check the mail! The DallasCowboys.com staff writers answer your questions here in 'Mailbag' presented by Miller Lite.)

It seems to me the Cowboys teams of the past didn't have the continuous injury issues we are now seeing. Bob Lilly, Jethro Pugh and George Andrie seemed to play each week without injuries. Do I have a faulty memory? Why are we so plagued with injuries now? – Jay Beitel/Helotes, TX

Nick: I don't think it's more injuries now than other years. But I do think it seems to be more significant injuries and ones to the same position. And when that happens, you feel it even more. I'm sure we've seen times where there have been 5 game-day inactive players and a handful of others on IR.

But what is the most telling is that Sunday saw the Cowboys without five former first-round picks - and all of them had played two weeks earlier. Think about that for a second - in a matter of weeks you're down CeeDee Lamb, Tyler Smith, Tyler Booker, Tyler Guyton and Malik Hooker. All of those guys are ones the Cowboys are counting on - especially the three Tylers on the O-line. Throw in the fact KaVontae Turpin - who isn't a first-round pick but an All-Pro - is also out and that thinned out the receivers even more.

I know it feels like more than usual but I think it's just a star-studded injury list. And that certainly doesn't make it feel any better. But I do credit the Cowboys are figuring out how to overcome it at least for the Jets game.

Kurt: The Cowboys have had their share of injuries this season, there's no doubting that. But I do think we tend to romanticize the past in some ways, thinking that the players of our youth were somehow less injury-prone. In truth, it was simply a different game back then.

First off, players today are so much bigger and faster than they were when Lilly, Pugh and Andrie were anchoring the Doomsday Defense in the 1960s and '70s. Consider that Nate Newton is thought to be the first 300-pound player to suit up for the Cowboys and that wasn't until 1986. In fact, according to Pro Football Reference, he was one of just 24 players across the NFL who topped the 300-pound mark that year. Now for the 2025 season, there are more than 400 players listed on their website as weighing more than 300 pounds.

The same goes for speed. Every team in the league this year has a number of guys who have run 40-yard times in under 4.5 seconds, but that wasn't the case 50 or 60 years ago. And when you put together that type of speed with those bigger bodies, you're looking at much more violent collisions.

But perhaps the more important factor now is that the NFL is placing a greater emphasis on player safety. I once had a lineman from the 1970s tell me his knee brace was broken during a play, and since he was practically immobile without it, he headed to the sideline. He was told to get back in the game. Other players from that era have told stories of returning to the huddle hoping the ball wasn't coming to them on the next snap because they were woozy from having their bell rung on the previous play. They never left the field.

So yes, there probably are more injuries today. It's a tough sport filled with very large, very fast men after all. Then again, maybe those injuries and the health of the players are just being addressed with more awareness and consideration. Thankfully, teams are now proceeding with more caution if there is a concern.