Running backs and hamstring injuries never mix. They're even worse when they involve the most anticipated Fantasy Football rookie running back in the past six years.
Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones said Ezekiel Elliott "will miss some time" following a hamstring injury suffered in training camp practice this week, but he doesn't seem worried. In an interview on the Cowboys team website, Jones went into a little bit of detail on the situation.
"He may miss some days, here," Jones said. "There's nothing, no defects, not anything like that. But as we all know, in these long camps, you've got to be protective of the soft tissue. If you don't watch them then they get worse. Obviously he's one that we'll make sure that thing's 110 percent before we put him back out there."
It seems like the Cowboys aren't expecting Elliott to miss a lot of time. That's good. Elliott should be able to make up for lost time if he's sidelined for a week or less. More than that would suggest a more serious injury, but until we're looking at him out of pads for that long, there's no reason to drop his ranking in Fantasy drafts.
Perhaps he'll sit out for a week, ease back into practice, miss the Cowboys' Aug. 13 preseason game against the Rams and then work his way into the lineup for their Aug. 19 game vs. Miami. Their third preseason game is Aug. 25 at Seattle -- hopefully this whole thing is a memory by then.
But this situation does underscore the importance of drafting Elliott's backup. As of now it's Alfred Morris, but only because Darren McFadden is also sidelined after fracturing his elbow. Once McFadden is healed he should end up being involved in case Elliott misses time.
Hopefully, it doesn't come to that because the Cowboys clearly have seen the positives in Elliott's game long before he got hurt.
"He's anything and everything that we could have ever hoped for in terms of the type of player we think he's going to be for us this year," Jones said.
