INDIANAPOLIS – There's no shortage of injury news on this Dallas Cowboys roster – but it all appears to be good news, to hear it from Stephen Jones.
The Cowboys' executive vice president met with reporters about a variety of topics on Tuesday afternoon from the NFL Combine. As the media session wound to a close, reporters fired off a laundry list of injury questions.
Anyone who watched the Cowboys in 2015 should know that the injury list isn't a short one, but Jones' updates were all of the encouraging variety – particularly regarding his biggest stars, Tony Romo and Dez Bryant.
"All good with Dez right now. He's making great progress," Jones said. "He went to see the doctor last week, and we got a great report."
Bryant underwent surgery on his injured right foot on Jan. 6, immediately after the conclusion of the Cowboys' regular season. The All-Pro receiver had a second bone graft done on his broken foot – following the original procedure he had in September – and he had his injured ankle tended to, as well.
Romo, the second big injury that helped to derail the Cowboys' 2015 campaign, is still a candidate for offseason surgery – which Jones confirmed he has not had as of yet.
"Obviously, that's something that he'll decide to have it or not decide to have it," Jones said. "It's preventative type surgery and I think he's wanting to make sure if he does do it it's the right way to do it."
There's been speculation about Romo potentially undergoing another procedure on his injured collarbone as far back as December. In January, the 35-year-old quarterback said he had a good idea of how he'd handle the issue.
Should Romo go through with the surgery, it's not an issue that's expected to keep him out of the Cowboys' offseason program.
Those are both well-documented topics at this point. But Jones also had news on several other injury concerns – namely, DeMarcus Lawrence, who revealed he'd had a procedure on his back at the end of January.
The problem arose at the end of the regular season, though it didn't keep Lawrence from finishing out the year with eight total sacks.
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"He did something that was obviously a lot worse than what he was having. We were somewhat surprised that it was what it turned out to be," Jones said. "We thought it might be something a little less significant but it's nothing that we have concerns about going forward."
Lawrence is in Boise, Idaho, finishing his college degree, according to Jones. The third-year defensive end isn't expected to miss a significant amount of practice time as a result of the surgery.
"There's no issue with training camp and I think he's going to make – I need to verify this – but I'm pretty sure he's going to make the OTAs. I think he'll get to participate some," Jones said.
Lance Dunbar will be a free agent when the new league year begins, so it's hard to speculate on his future with the team. But Jones also offered some insight into the running back's situation, as the Cowboys will have to determine how to handle him as he returns from a torn ACL and MCL suffered last October.
"Obviously Dunbar is a big question coming off a major surgery," Jones said. "He was having a heck of a year before he was hurt. We still don't know exactly how long that's going to be. It's real questionable as to whether he's a PUP guy or -- if we could sign him -- will he be a PUP guy or what would he be?"
