Rico Gathers confirms he was cleared from concussion after Week 7, says Cowboys left him on IR

lostxn

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Oh Rico, where art thou?
By RJ Ochoa@rjochoa May 23, 2018, 5:00pm CDT

2017 was a season of mystery and confusion for the Dallas Cowboys. There are plenty of reasons to choose why.

Whatever your flavor is, you no doubt acknowledge that the way Dallas handled tight end Rico Gathers was confusing.

The second-year former Baylor basketball player showed an ability to contribute in the redzone during last year’s preseason. People were ready to believe, until Rico suffered a concussion before the season ever began.

Dallas put Gathers on injured reserve when they finalized their 53-man roster, and he never left. Concussions are a serious thing in the NFL, they can’t at all be predicted, but it was curious how the Cowboys continued to say that Rico wasn’t ready to come back.

On Wednesday at OTAs Rico confirmed that he was indeed ready to come back. Gathers said that he was cleared beginning after Week 7, this was the week Dallas traveled to Washington on October 29th after the game in San Francisco.

Cowboys tight end Rico Gathers said he was cleared Week 7 from concussion protocol but team left him on Injured Reserve. Hungrier than ever to make regular season roster.

— Kate Hairopoulos (@khairopoulos) May 23, 2018
Also, Rico Gathers said he never had an injured jaw last year after training camp hit. It was all a concussion: "The jaw injury was more media related. I don’t know where that came from. Clear that up. It was mostly dealing with the headaches that come with having a concussion."

— Brandon George (@DMN_George) May 23, 2018
A reminder of what Jason Garrett had to say about Rico around this time:

Cowboys TE Rico Gathers is eligible to return to practice this week, but he won't today. Jason Garrett said he has been working on side, though, with strength & conditioning coach Mike Woicik.

— Brandon George (@DMN_George) October 18, 2017
Jason Garrett says Rico Gathers has been in meetings this week. He expects him “to do something physical” today, but he doesn’t know how much he’ll practice #cowboyswire

— David Helman (@HelmanDC) November 15, 2017
It’s a bad look for the Cowboys that their own player is publicly saying that he was cleared to come back but that they left him on injured reserve for over half the season. It’s outright saying that the Cowboys manipulated the status of injured reserve.

At the very least we’re at a point where Rico is comfortable speaking his mind. He’s ultimately hedging himself saying that everything is up to the coaches, but he clearly wanted to play and he was ready to. He also might be expecting to be cut based on his reference to “somebody’s” 53-man roster.

Rico Gathers: "I feel like I was ready to get back & practice around Week 8 or Week 9 & at least – at least – be able to practice & work on my blocking to continue my development. But, they had other expectations for me. I can’t go against the grain of what they wanted to do."

— Brandon George (@DMN_George) May 23, 2018
Rico Gathers: "The biggest thing for me this year is just making it to the regular season. I have to make sure I’m healthy and make sure I’m able to be on somebody’s 53-man roster."

— Brandon George (@DMN_George) May 23, 2018
The tight end group will be interesting heading into training camp.

_____________________________________________________

This confirms what many of us suspected. They stashed him and now he's pissed and running his mouth. Don't think that's a good move for him.
 

Rev

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He's ignorant. Look at the opportunity that he has in front of him now and this is the time to stir up drama? Makes me want to laugh when he fails.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Not really sure how he was running his mouth. None of those quotes sound that way.
 

lostxn

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Not really sure how he was running his mouth. None of those quotes sound that way.
Because he just publicly stated the team was tampering with his IR status. The team could be fined for this. This really doesn't help his situation with the team or future employers.
 

Rev

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Not really sure how he was running his mouth. None of those quotes sound that way.
Its not just that article. There has been more recently whether its his rap or some tweets. All he has to do is just focus going forward at his shot this year.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Because he just publicly stated the team was tampering with his IR status. The team could be fined for this. This really doesn't help his situation with the team or future employers.
It's not tampering. It's actually totally acceptable under the rules. Shit you're only allowed to return one player from IR.

Now if he said he was cleared to play when they placed him on IR that would be a problem.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Its not just that article. There has been more recently whether its his rap or some tweets. All he has to do is just focus going forward at his shot this year.
I have no doubt he wanted to play last year. I agree with him. It was stupid to not have the guy practicing and developing. I think Garrett just doesn't like him.
 

Rev

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I have no doubt he wanted to play last year. I agree with him. It was stupid to not have the guy practicing and developing. I think Garrett just doesn't like him.
All of that is probably correct. I just don't like looking back. It's in the past so stop worrying about that. Focus on what matters and at the very least its an audition for other teams if you don't want to stay.
 

Cowboysrock55

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All of that is probably correct. I just don't like looking back. It's in the past so stop worrying about that. Focus on what matters and at the very least its an audition for other teams if you don't want to stay.
Yeah and he has such a cocky attitude I wouldn't be surprised if the Cowboys want to humble the guy some. I'm glad that he mentioned he wants to work on his blocking though. The physical traits are all there for him to be an excellent blocker but it's an attitude thing. And sometimes I think TE's view themselves more as WR's. Blocking is sort of a thankless job. No body sees a 1500 yard rusher and compliments the TE for helping him get that. TE's make the probowl for their receiving stats, not their blocking. I honestly think he could be a dynamic receiving TE for us if he can ever earn the coaches trust as a blocker. I mean lets face it, we are a running team. So blocking sort of comes first in our coaches minds.
 

ravidubey

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It’s outright saying that the Cowboys manipulated the status of injured reserve.
Uhhh, no, it’s only saying the Cowboys chose not to use their lone IR-to-active roster move on Gathers.

Once you use IR it’s permanent for the entire year beyond that once per year per franchise exemption.
 

lostxn

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Uhhh, no, it’s only saying the Cowboys chose not to use their lone IR-to-active roster move on Gathers.

Once you use IR it’s permanent for the entire year beyond that once per year per franchise exemption.
Ah, perhaps I did not understand that whole mechanism, LOL. :budd

Did we take anyone off IR last year? We certainly could have used the offensive juice he could have provided last year.
 

ravidubey

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Ah, perhaps I did not understand that whole mechanism, LOL. :budd

Did we take anyone off IR last year? We certainly could have used the offensive juice he could have provided last year.
Good call out and was wondering the same thing. Don’t also understand the exact mechanics of the rule, but bottom line Gathers wasn’t ready enough to even make the active 47 on game day so why bother?

Stashing him was mostly a good thing with the lone drawback being he couldn’t practice with the team and further develop his skills.

Bottom line this is a make or break offseason for Rico.
 

p1_

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the lone drawback being he couldn’t practice with the team and further develop his skills.
For a guy considered to be a project, this fact is significant. The guy can certainly catch the ball, but his blocking needs a great deal of work. And he missed precious development time.
 

Cowboysrock55

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For a guy considered to be a project, this fact is significant. The guy can certainly catch the ball, but his blocking needs a great deal of work. And he missed precious development time.
Yeah this was my biggest issue when we were putting him on IR. You lose a year of development on a guy who badly needs development. He would have been a perfect guy to have on the practice squad last year but after the receiving ability he showed in preseason I doubt he ever would have made it to the practice squad. I would have activated him and cut one of the scrubs at the bottom of our roster to stash him. But I guess we were more concerned about Jarwin. So hopefully Jarwin is decent.
 

NoDak

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I had no problem with putting him on IR. We couldn't afford to use up a spot, carrying him on the active roster. And he obviously wasn't ready to contribute to the game day roster, so using up our only IR/return designation on him would have been stupid. Yeah, it sucks that he couldn't practice with the team once he was medically cleared, but that's the breaks.

It would have been nice to have been able to put him on the practice squad at the beginning of the year, but once he got the concussion, that was no longer possible. It was either IR, cut, or carry on the roster while injured.
 

p1_

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Ive seen an interview where he confirms that he wasnt able to practice with the team once he went on IR, but just do dummy work and conditioning. He's lost a ton of playing and development time, and this will be year 3.
 
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