The bad news: The Dallas Cowboys will be down yet another defensive starter for an extended period of time. The good news: He’ll be back later in the season. Starting linebacker Anthony Hitchens has been ruled out for 8 to 10 weeks after suffering a tibial plateau fracture in his right knee during the Cowboys preseason game against the Oakland Raiders on Saturday night.
Can confirm LB Anthony Hitchens suffered tibial plateau fracture that will keep him out 8-10 weeks, per source. ACL would have ended season.
— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) August 27, 2017
Hitchens went down near the end of the first half of Saturday night’s game and reports had speculated that the fourth-year linebacker had torn his ACL, which would have ended his season. In that regard, it appears that Dallas has caught a break.
The 2014 fourth-round draft pick out of Iowa was coming of a career year with Dallas, starting all 16 games and finishing with 78 tackles and 1.5 sacks and was a solid contributor alongside Sean Lee at linebacker. With him out of the lineup, Justin Durant and Jaylon Smith would be next in line to shoulder the load.
The bye week for Dallas comes during Week Six and Hitchens would be on pace to return for the Cowboys game against San Francisco in Week Seven. The Cowboys are scheduled to play their final preseason game on Thursday against the Houston Texans.
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