IRVING, Texas – Morris Claiborne's season is over after four games.
An MRI revealed the Cowboys cornerback tore his patellar tendon in the first quarter Sunday against the Saints. He'll get surgery on his knee in the next couple days and will go on injured reserve, according to head coach Jason Garrett.
"Mo's been dealing with a lot of different things from a physical standpoint," Garrett said. "This is another one of those things. He's going to get the surgery done and he's going to come back stronger and better than ever."
Garrett hadn't spoken to Claiborne after the MRI results Monday, but he did talk to the corneback on the way home from the game Sunday night. At that point, the fear was a torn ACL, but the season-ending result is the same.
"Obviously, he's disappointed," Garrett said. "Mo Claiborne's going to be a good player in this league. There's no doubt in my mind about that. Everybody around him I think believes that. He's working hard to get there."
It's impossible to talk about the start of Claiborne's career without mentioning a multitude of injuries.
The 2012 first-round pick has dealt with wrist, shoulder, hamstring and knee injuries since entering the league, with this patellar tendon injury the worst of the bunch.
This year alone, Claiborne's missed time with knee tendinitis and an AC joint injury in his shoulder prior to the devastating knee injury Sunday. He once again was forced to start the regular season without any preseason work. Many believe that missed time has led to struggles in technique. [embedded_ad]
It's been a particularly eventful last week or so for Claiborne, who struggled in coverage for much of the Rams game before coming up with the game-sealing pick. That euphoria didn't last long, as he stormed out of the team facility early the next week after being told his role would change going forward.
Claiborne returned the next day and continued to practice as the third cornerback in the nickel package, which carried over early to Sunday's game. Claiborne injured his knee on a third-down scramble by Drew Brees with 6:04 remaining in the first quarter.
"Injuries have been a part of his progression here so far," Garrett said. "I've been around players in my career who've had similar starts to their careers and they've gotten themselves healthy and they've gotten themselves stronger and ready to play at this level, and they've had really good careers after that."
