Dallas Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne has missed much of the training camp work before his rookie season with a host of injuries: surgery to repair his wrist kept him out of rookie camp and some OTAs, and an MCL sprain has sidelined him of late. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones isn't having that.
Cowboys Say ‘There’s No Excuse’ For Morris Claiborne Not Playing Hurt
"Our young guys got to get healthy," Jones told the Elf & Slater Show on 105.3 [KRLD-FM]. "There’s no excuse. All of them."
Jones then mentioned rookie safety Matt Johnson and rookie defensive end Tyrone Crawford before saying, "Mo Claiborne’s got to get out there. The times he’s been out there, it’s been impressive. But he certainly can’t make the club in the tub, if you will. He’s got to get out there. It’s time. We got to start having a mentality that we’re going to play through things."
Stephen Jones is the son of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and he’s got a point: Claiborne doesn’t have much value to the team if he’s on the sidelines, and certainly not the value they expected him to have when they selected him with the sixth pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
But Claiborne doesn’t have value commensurate to that pick if he’s playing hurt and it diminishes his play, and certainly wouldn’t have value commensurate to it if he aggravates an injury. And the executive vice president of the team who happens to be the son of the owner telling the football player to suck it up sure runs the risk of sounding callous.
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