The Cowboys got a double dose of bad news on the suspension front Thursday with the NFL announcing a 10-game ban for linebacker Rolando McClain as well as upholding the four-game penalty handed down to defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence earlier this offseason.
Lawrence’s fellow defensive end Randy Gregory will also open the year by serving a four-game suspension, leaving the Cowboys down three players that would be major parts of their defense in a perfect world. Cornerback Brandon Carr said on Sirius XM Radio with Zig Fracassi and Phil Savage that their absences raise the stakes for the rest of the players on that side of the ball.
“Well, anytime you get a guy going down in your unit, you have to come together even stronger to make up for that slack,” Carr said. “But Rolando is a guy that’s made a lot of plays for us in the past two years, another dominant presence on the field. So we’re definitely going to miss that. But football’s a game of the next man up, it’s a game of inches. So it’s going to take for all of us to come to training camp focused and next man up, get him ready, get prepared to go out there to battle.”
There were questions about the quality of the Cowboys defense when the three suspended players were expected to be in the mix to open the season, so the remaining hands on deck will have a big task ahead of them once camp gets underway later this month.