FRISCO, Texas – The injury report is beginning to grow as the Cowboys head toward Week 4.

Dez Bryant and is mysterious knee injury are a category unto themselves – and were updated on Wednesday morning. Aside from Bryant, several other key Cowboys players were absent as the Cowboys started their first practice ahead of their trip to San Francisco.

A lot of those injuries are focused on the Cowboys' vaunted offensive line. Tyron Smith was held out of practice with the same back injury that sidelined him last week against Chicago, while Doug Free was at practice but is expected to be limited with his quadriceps injury.

Smith first showed up on the injury report last Friday with a back injury, and it was enough to keep him out of the game. Garrett said he's made progress in the days since, but he referred to it as a "day-by-day" situation."

"He seems to be getting better. He seemed to be moving around more comfortably," Garrett said. "We continue to get feedback from the player, see how he feels. But he moved around better today than he did yesterday, and we'll just see how he functions as the week goes on."

[embeddedad0]La'el Collins was also absent from practice while he manages the toe injury that was reported on earlier this week.

Collins is in a bit of a different situation than his counterparts on the offensive line, however. It was initially reported that the second-year guard might require surgery on the ligament damage to his big toe, but Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones said Tuesday that surgery looked "less likely."

Garrett reiterated that Wednesday morning, stating that Collins was still seeking out other opinions about his options. As it stands right now, his status has yet to be determined.

"We are still evaluating his situation," Garrett said. "He has an opinion. He is getting a second opinion and even a third opinion from the doctor who we think is the foremost expert in this area. We will to get all that information in the next couple of days and make our best evaluation of what we would do."

Orlando Scandrick was padded up for practice after sitting out of Sunday's game with hamstring injuries, but Garrett said he expects the veteran corner to be limited.