FRISCO, Texas – The news seems to be about as good as possible for Neville Gallimore.
Upon arrival back in Texas, the Cowboys' second-year defensive tackle has undergone further evaluation on his elbow injury from Friday's preseason loss to Arizona. The report back is that Gallimore dislocated the elbow but managed to avoid any major structural damage.
Reports indicate that Gallimore's timeline ranges from six to eight weeks, but at the minimum it sounds like it'll be more than a month. Even the longer timeline would have him back sometime in October, well before the halfway point of the season.
As far as multiple-week injuries go, that feels like the best possible scenario for Gallimore. The issue looked like it could have been much more severe, as Gallimore had his arm bent back during the Cowboys' first defensive series of the game and left the field in an immense amount of pain.
This will likely put the defensive tackle spot in a bit of a bind, though. The Cowboys can't put Gallimore on injured reserve during training camp, as that would make him unavailable for the rest of the year. Instead, they'll have to carry him on the roster up to the regular season, which will shorten their numbers a bit.
It could be an even bigger opportunity for third-round draft pick Osa Odighizuwa, who played a lot of snaps in the loss to the Cardinals. Trysten Hill is currently on the team's active PUP, which leaves Odighizuwa as one of the only true three-techniques on the team. Carlos Watkins has also gotten plenty of work at the position during training camp.
It shouldn't come as a surprise if the Cowboys pick up some help at the position to help them through these next few weeks and perhaps the beginning of the regular season.
Regardless, the Cowboys aren't going to complain about some fortunate news. Gallimore is still going to miss some time, but it's not quite as bad as it looked on Friday night.
