In a radio interview today, Dallas Cowboys executive Stephen Jones provided a sad update on the health of All-Pro center Travis Frederick. Per Jones, the team does not expect Frederick to return to action during the 2018 season.
Travis has missed every game thus far while dealing with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a neurological disorder with potentially severe consequences. He was diagnosed in late August.
Stephen Jones says there's a good shot to get Tyron back vs Philly, outside shot to get Sean Lee back, and doubtful that Travis Frederick will play any football this year.
— Jeff Cavanaugh (@timeforjeffrey) December 3, 2018
The Cowboys have held out hope that Frederick could return this year. They didn’t place him on injured reserve until Week 5, and even still had the option of bring him back from IR after eight weeks. Travis could have rejoined the team following their Thanksgiving Day victory over the Redskins.
But Frederick’s progress hasn’t been as swift as we all hoped. It was just a few weeks ago that he regained strength in his hands, and at that time there was still reported sensory deficit in his lower body.
The goal now seems to be for Travis Frederick to get healthy and be able to return in 2019, which was probably the most realistic scenario all along.
Thankfully, the Cowboys haven’t suffered too badly for not having their five-year starter. Joe Looney had played admirably in Frederick’s absence.
So no, Stephen Jones’ update isn’t a big surprise. Still, it’s a disappointment against our hope to get Travis back for what appears to be an upcoming playoff run for the Cowboys.
As always, we wish Travis Frederick all the best in his recovery.
Travis isthe heart and soul of our offensive line! We need him back. Heres to a fully recovery!
Over the past two and a half years our offensive line play has been decent at times, good at times and underwhelming far too often for it to deserve the accolade “Best in Football”…It’s been far from that for quite a while now. And the reason(s) for it can be traced to its three Pro-Bowl caliber players: Tyron Smith’s been playing with a bad back since last season and more recently with a stinger; Zack Martin has had problems with his right knee ever since Dre Kirkpatrick hit him with his helmet on a tackle back in an August pre-season game against the Bengals; and Travis Frederick may never play with full effectiveness ever again even if he does return to the Cowboys next season due to the recurring nature of Guillain-Barre Syndrome which–like Multiple Sclerosis–tends to be episodic. So let’s stop kidding ourselves about how great our offensive line is…it simply ISN’T anymore. And our recent draftee Connor Williams looks physically weak–perhaps because he couldn’t anchor reliably on a bad knee himself; we’ll see in the months ahead.
My recommendation would be for Jerry Jones and staff to draft three more offensive lineman to open holes for Ezekiel Elliott and keep Dak Prescott off his back every damned game–although I freely admit that half of the time his sacks can be attributed to him holding on to the ball too god damned long instead of either pulling the ball down and running with it or else throwing it away…
Good luck to Travis. I hope he recovers fully both for his sake and for ours…
End,
Clifford
Sta. Monica
yeah, get over yourself
Poke holes in my comments, asshole. Otherwise shut the f*ck up