Dallas Cowboys middle linebacker Sean Lee (50). Jeffrey Pittenger-USA TODAY Sports
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee has not been medically cleared by team doctors two months after sustaining a torn ligament in his neck, ESPN Dallas reported Monday.
Lee said his neck feels healthy. He has been rehabbing and working out at the team’s Valley Ranch facility since the end of the season. The Cowboys start their official offseason program April 21.
“I’m working all the neck exercises,” Lee said. “I think it was just having time to heal, allowing that ligament to heal and it takes a certain amount of time. I think we’re on the path to where it’s pretty much there.”
Lee missed the final three games of last season after getting injured in the first quarter of the Cowboys’ loss to the Chicago Bears on Dec. 9. He had just come off a hamstring injury that cost him two games.
“I don’t need surgery, which is a positive,” Lee said. “But I didn’t play at the end of the year at a very critical time, and it’s been two years in a row and I need to be out there. There’s no excuse for it. I’ve got to find a way to stay on the football field.”
In four NFL seasons, Lee has missed 18 games. That includes one in 2011 because of a dislocated wrist and 10 in 2012 because of a severe toe injury.
“I think I’ve had a combination of injuries, like the hamstring would be an ‘injury-prone’ type of injury,” Lee said. “I think I’ve also had some bad luck where I got rolled up in a pile with my toe and I’ve gotten hit by my own guy in a pile.
“I need to find a way to stay healthy, whether it’s finding a way to be stronger and not having the hamstring deal or it’s hopefully having a little bit better luck. I need a combination of both going forward.”
Lee signed a six-year contract extension worth up to $51 million last summer.
