Cowboys undrafted rookie might be forced to play sooner rather than later after latest Week 1 news

Dallas Cowboys football is back and that means injury reports are as well, for better or for worse.

Fortunately, with this being Week 1 and all, there are not a lot of names on the list for the Cowboys, though starting cornerback DaRon Bland remains on Injured Reserve and will stay there for a minimum four games.

As far as the 53-man roster goes, however, only one name appeared as "Did Not Participate," and that's second-year tight end John Stephens Jr., who had to fight for his roster spot after suffering a season-ending injury as a rookie that kept him out of last year's team. He was present but didn't practice.

Stephens Jr. shows up on the injury report with a hamstring, which by nature can linger if not given the proper amount of time to heal, which leads to an interesting question: Will he be active on Sunday's season opener? Only time will tell, and the Cowboys clearly want him to have an important role on offense, but with his status up in the air, undrafted rookie Brevyn Spann Ford might be forced to play sooner rather than later.

It's Week 1, so we're forced to speculate, but in an article projecting the team's opening inactives, I listed Spann-Ford as someone who could be a healthy scratch to start the year as TE4. If Stephens Jr. can't go, chances are the Cowboys would be forced to suit up the rookie.

Full Cowboys Injury Report

Everyone else on the team participated and no other player was limited. However, more players appeared on the report as full participants: LB Damone Clark, DT Mazi Smith, S Juanyeh Thomas, DE Marshawn Kneeland, and CB Israel Mukuamu.

Browns Injury Report

The most notable development for the Browns is starting left tackle Jed Wills Jr. appearing as a limited participant as it's his first practice of the year as he navigates a knee injury. Right tackle Jack Conklin was also limited.