The Cowboys had high hopes for defensive end Sam Williams this season. Those ended Sunday when Williams tore an ACL and MCL, ending his season.
“That’s a really tough break,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said, via Joseph Hoyt of lonestarlive.com. “Especially for him. Because he was clearly going to be a primary contributor.”
Even before Williams’ injury, second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland was taking some first-team snaps. Now, the Cowboys are expecting even more from Kneeland behind DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons.
“The biggest thing is he’ll get more opportunities,” McCarthy said of Kneeland, “and all of our young guys need this training camp, need this atmosphere, but definitely he’ll get more opportunities to take advantage of what’s in front of him.”
Kneeland, who had 13 sacks in 23 games at Western Michigan, has played the part thus far in camp.
“I haven’t had what you see from some rookies, when you see them get thrown around,” Kneeland said. “Hopefully I won’t have that.”