FRISCO, Texas - The word "Snakebitten" has been used to describe the bad injury luck the Cowboys have had six weeks into the 2024 NFL season. And now the bite has spread to Dallas' leading tackler Eric Kendricks, who was ruled out of Sunday's game with as he's dealing with a calf and should injury.
Nick Vigil, Kendrick's backup and the other "green dot" option for the Cowboys, was listed as questionable with a food injury. He did not practice on Friday, but the coaching staff will see how things go Saturday before making a final decision.
"We'll take until Saturday, see how we come off the field tomorrow, obviously exercising everybody with a potential to play." head coach Mike McCarthy said.
McCarthy didn't show any of his cards on his weekly telephone call with the media, with a quick and to the point response to a question about what the Cowboys would do if Kendricks was unable to play.
"We'll find out Sunday." McCarthy said.
Now, there's no need to wait until then. The Cowboys will need to replace Kendricks, who leads the team with 52 tackles. He's the only player on the Cowboys with a sack and interception this year - both occurring against the Browns in Week 1.
So what are Dallas' options at linebacker with Kendricks out and Vigil questionable? Damone Clark comes to mind first. He had a strong start to the 2024 season with 11 tackles through the first two weeks of the season but has tallied just four since then and one in the last two weeks. Then there's Buddy Johnson, who has played in just two games this season and tallied one tackle. Practice squad options include Brock Mogenson and Darius Harris, who McCarthy was asked about on Friday.
"Darius looks great, he's ready to play, he's just waiting on an opportunity," McCarthy said of Harris. "Very pleased with the way Darius has been practicing."
Harris played his first four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs tallying 58 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 33 games but hasn't played in a regular season game since week 14 of the 2023 season.
In an interview with 105.3 The Fan, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones named Clark and Harris as guys he'd like to see fill in the holes of this defense on Sunday.
"Obviously, you got guys like Damone Clark who we're wanting to back in the groove, we've got [Darius] Harris, we've got a good group of guys there that hopefully can step up."
Someone is going to have to step up in the absence of Kendricks and potentially Vigil Sunday afternoon especially considering the explosive rushing offense that's coming to town. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have run for 556 yards in four games, which is more than 15 entire NFL teams through five weeks.
Of note in the rest of the injury report, Micah Parsons (ankle) is out, Caelan Carson (shoulder) is questionable as well as DaRon Bland (foot), although he did not practice Friday. Trevon Diggs returned as a full participant on Friday after battling an illness and missing practice Thursday. That's in addition to the Cowboys defense already playing without DeMarcus Lawrence and Marshawn Kneeland.
