Now Trevon Diggs, the Dallas Cowboys cornerback, is looking at the prospect of losing a significant portion of his salary. This risk stems from his constant injury rehabilitation and lost time or missed participation in team activities. With downstairs neighbors courtesy of a checkup from the team doctors, Diggs is all in on recovering from that recently torn ACL. He sustained the injury in practice a day or two before the Cru’s third game of the 2023 season.
When Coach Brian Schottenheimer delved into getting Diggs’ mentality last week came down to the healing process. Executive vice president Stephen Jones confirmed that Diggs is “being diligent” in his rehab, emphasizing the team’s preference for him to undergo rehabilitation within the organization. This approach is intended to provide a more objective, step‐by‐step recovery and quicker return to play.
Diggs had the chondral tissue graft in January, in which bone and cartilage were transplanted into his affected knee. Just last season he was restricted, playing in just 11 games because of a troublesome cartilage problem that ended up keeping him entirely off the field. Over the last two seasons combined, he’s missed 34 total regular-season games, appearing in only 13 of those games. This lack of participation has sparked worries over his availability.
The Cowboys are known to have inserted base-salary de-escalator clauses in important contracts. That’s a result of deals like star quarterback Dak Prescott’s and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s. As such, Diggs could lose up to $500,000 in salary reductions. This can occur only if he fails to participate or attend in accordance with the specific terms of his contract. That’s after missing the first two phases of the offseason program. Secondly, he missed all of OTAs the last three weeks, which has added to this bind.
Diggs would be to some extent a frustrating player due to his injury history. The invasive organization deafly raised alarms last year regarding his apparent lack of commitment to rehab. Jerry Jones, the team’s owner and general manager, noted that it is “very important” for Diggs to remain diligent in his recovery efforts to expedite his return.
“Our understanding is he’s getting the work done and he’ll be back in, and we’ll get a good look at him next week [at the minicamp]” – Stephen Jones
Should Diggs start the season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, he will miss at least the first four games of the regular season. For the upcoming season, Diggs has an enormous task ahead of him. Now his burden is twofold—he has to heal from his injury while making up for having missed vital training and conditioning.
The Cowboys prepare for 2019 as defending champions. Both management and the Bills fan base understand just how important Diggs is to their starting defensive unit. The organization has made it clear they are looking forward to his speedy recovery as they start training camp.
“[We] won’t have a feel for when he’s going to be able to get in the middle of everything until we get to training camp when we’re with him day in and day out and see how he’s progressing” – Stephen Jones
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