OXNARD, Calif. – All but three members of the Cowboys' roster will be ready to play when the team opens training camp Sunday, according to coach Jason Garrett.
Garrett said that guards Nate Livings and Ronald Leary, as well as long snapper L.P. Ladouceur will be unavailable for the first day of practices, but the rest of the team is cleared.
"L.P. will not run the conditioning test – he won't be a guy who starts right away in training camp. He's got a little calf (injury)," Garrett said. "Nate Livings has a little foot thing, he'll be limited right from the start, as will Ron Leary."
Rookie Jackson Anderson, who signed with the team during the offseason, will likely fill in at long snapper while Ladouceur recovers. The Cowboys will lean on the likes of Mackenzy Bernadeau and David Arkin while their guards recover.
Garrett said he doesn't expect any of the injuries to hamper those players for a significant amount of time, though they will be limited at the start of camp.
"We don't think these are serious things – they're more day-to-day-type things," Garrett said. "So those are the only guys at the outset that we think might not be available to us to start practice."
Cowboys fans will be relieved to see several of the team's biggest stars not listed among the wounded.
Even after the injury-plagued 2012 season, the team dealt with plenty more injury issues during the offseason. Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware, Mackenzy Bernadeau, DeMarco Murray, Joseph Randle, Jermey Parnell and Danny McCray are all key players who missed practice time during OTA's and June minicamp. [embedded_ad]
"We had some guys in team OTA's and minicamp who were limited throughout that time, and a number of those guys are back – they feel much better," Garrett said.
Garrett said his staff will have its eyes open for lingering injury concerns, but all those problems should be abetted for the start of camp.
"We'll have those day-to-day conversations and try to keep guys in the best shape possible as they come back from a variety of injuries," he said.
