Cowboys’ Lee feels good in first healthy off-season since 2012

The Dallas Cowboys have forced linebacker Sean Lee to take a day off during practice throughout the off-season and that will continue during mini-camp this week.

He practiced Tuesday. He will sit Wednesday and practice Thursday.

There was a time when Lee would have bristled at the thought of taking time off.

No one likes to work more than Lee.

And no one resents more than Lee the idea of not practicing, especially considering the time he missed due to injuries earlier in his career.

But after playing through the healthiest and most productive season of his career, Lee is enjoying his first full and healthy off-season and sees the deliberate workload as the key to him building on last season’s success.

“I love playing,” Lee said. “I love being out there. Last year was so much fun for me, it was a dream come true to be part of that team. Now my goal is to play better and help the team take the next step.”

Lee missed 37 of a possible 112 games in his first seven seasons and has never played a full 16 game schedule.

But last year was the first time he was healthy for the entire season, starting 15 of 16 games, only sitting out the regular season final. He led the Cowboys with a career-high 145 tackles and earned first-team All-Pro honors for the first time as well as his second trip to the Pro Bowl.

He credits his success to the game plan instituted last off-season of giving him some days off from practice.

“I think when I was young, I wanted to be part of every drill, win every drill, make every tackle,” Lee said. “Right now, there’s a process getting ready for the season. I think I’ve done a better job of listening to the trainers, listening to [trainer] Britt [Brown] and following that game plan. It’s made me a better football player and it’s kept me healthy.

“It’s tough. As a leader, you want to be out there. You want to be able to apply your leadership and you always want to be able to share the sacrifice with your guys. That’s the emotional part that you miss when you’re not out there. But I think there’s the smart part of us taking our time.”

This is the first off-season since 2012 that Lee isn’t recovering from some sort of injury or surgery.

In 2013, he was rehabbing a season-ending toe injury. A year later, Lee tore an anterior cruciate ligament on the first day of organized team activities. In 2015, he was returning from a knee injury. In 2016, he had off-season arthroscopic surgery.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said having Lee’s presence and leadership during the off-season, even on a limited basis, is good for the team. It’s even more important now with the overhaul on defense following the departure via free agency of six key contributors in cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne, safeties Barry Church and J.J. Wilcox and defensive linemen Jack Crawford and Terrell McClain.

“He is an outstanding leader,” Garrett said of Lee. “He provides a great example for everybody every day, not only on defense but on offense and special teams, the coaching staff. He just does things the right way.”

Lee knows he will probably never erase the injury-prone reputation of his past.

“It’s nice to be able to go through games healthy,” Lee said. “I think that mentally year after to year, it was tough to handle. It was frustrating. I tried to stay positive as much as I could. But when you miss games year after year after year it leans on you. It’s nice to have a couple of years and a having a game plan and be able to peak and get better and better.”

“Those doubts will always be there. That is OK. I just care about playing football and helping our team win. The other stuff you can’t control.”

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Cowboys’ Lee feels good in first healthy off-season since 2012."