Report: Cowboys DE Marshawn Kneeland avoided ACL tear but has meniscus tear, expected back this season

The Dallas Cowboys won on Sunday night in Pittsburgh, but like the game before them against the New York Giants wondered whether it came at a price.

Dallas lost DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons for stretches of time as a result of their road win over the G-Men, and during their game against the Steelers rookies Marshawn Kneeland and Tyler Guyton both left with injury.

Word on the latter remains a mystery at the time of this reporting, but the presumption about Kneeland was the worst given that he put no pressure on his right knee area and was carted to the locker room. Monday afternoon brought an update though and while he was indeed injured, he avoided worst case scenario. According to Jordan Schultz and Ian Rapoport Kneeland does not have an ACL injury. He does have a meniscus tear though and will miss some time after getting it taken care of.

Obviously no injury news is positive, but given the assumption as noted, this definitely feels like a positive development. The exact timeline for potential return remains to be seen. Von Miller suffered the same injury while with the Buffalo Bills in 2022, but he sustained it in late November. He did not return that season.

We will obviously hear from Mike McCarthy and Jerry Jones soon enough and they will provide a bit more context. For what it’s worth, Kneeland himself took to social media and said he would be back “soon.”