The Cowboys placed running back Darren McFadden on the reserve/non-football injury list over the weekend, clearing him from the 53-man roster and leaving him ineligible to play or practice for the first six weeks of the season.
McFadden says he feels like he’s fully healed from the fractured elbow he suffered in June, although a result of the injury is that he may never have full extension of the elbow again. That’s not something McFadden believes will stand in the way of a return to the field, which explains his reaction to being placed on the list.
“I don’t know if disappointment is the word for it,” McFadden said, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It’s worse than disappointment to me. I was definitely hoping to be back out there for the start. It’s one of those things I have to sit back and get ready.”
The Cowboys aren’t obligated to pay McFadden while he is on the NFI list and the next six weeks could be more than enough time for Ezekiel Elliott and Alfred Morris to make McFadden superfluous to the offense in Dallas, so it’s not hard to see why disappointment might be an understatement to McFadden.