The bad news is the Dallas Cowboys are having some complications due to COVID-19 protocols, but the good news is the timing of it all. Last week, both defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and defensive tackle Carlos Watkins were absent from AT&T Stadium when the Cowboys hosted the Houston Texans, out of an "abundance of caution" in adhering to league-wide protocols on how to handle COVID-19 -- contact tracing included. Two days later, three more have joined them, with the Cowboys moving CeeDee Lamb, Malik Hooker and rookie safety Israel Mukuamu to the COVID/Reserve list on Monday, sources tell CBS Sports.
Being moved to that list doesn't in and of itself reveal a player's vaccination status, but the timeline in which they return might. If a player is vaccinated, they're allowed to return if they're symptom-free and deliver two negative tests that are 24 hours apart. An unvaccinated player, however, must be quarantined a full 10 days.
Sources say Lamb is fully vaccinated and Hooker received his initial shot during the onboarding process with the Cowboys (hence the holdup from agreeing to terms to appearing in camp), and his second is expected any day now. Mukuamu is fully vaccinated as well, so all three have a shot at returning to the field much, much sooner than later.
Circling back to the mention of timing here: the Cowboys don't play their first regular season game until 17 days from yesterday. That gives the aforementioned plenty of time to return and practice before they face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The added complication is on an individual level, from the standpoint of reps, for Hooker and Mukuamu.
While there's virtually no doubt Hooker will make the roster despite being a late addition to training camp, having only recently dressed in full pads and taking his first preseason snaps just this past Saturday, losing any additional amount of time will be anything but helpful as he works to get back into top form following a season-ending torn Achilles in 2020. For Mukuamu, who is beginning to stand out as August rolls along, an absence is that much more cumbersome when considering he's a sixth-round pick trying desperately to earn playing time (and a spot on the 53-man roster) in a safety rotation that features Hooker, Damontae Kazee, Donovan Wilson and veteran Jayron Kearse.
And if Mukuamu does miss the preseason finale on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, unlike Hooker, he can only hope he's done enough good to avoid being seen as a practice squad player to begin the year which, arguably, he has.
The Cowboys reported a 93 percent player vaccination rate as of this past weekend, with 100 percent of the coaching staff being vaccinated -- as required. Their goal is to increase the player mark to 100 percent before the start of the season, and they've made a lot of headway in that regard, after mostly excelling in avoiding COVID-19 complications during the first spike of the pandemic in 2020.
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