Cowboys Lee: 'I'm Fine - And Coming Back Better'

By: Mike Fisher

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ARLINGTON (105.3 The Fan) - Sean Lee went up the AT&T Stadium players-only elevator armed with a pair of team-honor trophies, a newly-restructured contract and a promise.

"If there was a game this Sunday, I'll be playing in it,'' the Cowboys star linebacker told me Wednesday following the team's Kickoff Luncheon, during which he was awarded the 2015 Ed Block

Courage Award and the 2015 Defensive MVP Award as voted on by teammates. "As it is, I'm feeling great. I had a really good camp, our defense had a really good camp, and I'll be ready for (the Giants on Sept. 11) game day.''

Lee has been the subject of speculation this week because of reports he underwent an MRI on a knee that kept him from practicing this week.

"I'm fine, relatively speaking,'' said Lee, the first to acknowledge that his Pro Bowl career has been marred by injuries. "It's football; you deal with stuff off and on. But I also know I've done a good job controlling what I can control. And I know that I always fine a way to come back — and to come back better.''

Lee also starts the season with an adjustment to his contract that converts some base salary into bonus money while giving him the chance to earn $2 million more in weekly roster bonuses than can increase his salary to $9 million. That $2 million, not coincidentally, is exactly what Lee sacrificed by volunteering to sit out last year's meaningless Week 16 game. (The base-into-bonus technique is also being used with cornerback Orlando Scandrick, which when finished can open up as much as $3 mil in cap room. Dallas entered the week with $6 million of room but is shopping for help at quarterback and pass-rusher.)

Amid all the shuffling, all the questions and all the hope for the 2016 Cowboys, Lee feels supported by ownership, by the staff and by his teammates.

"I've had so much support,'' he said. "I've also had lots of injury issues. But lots of support, too, from my teammates, the Joneses, everybody. That support is what makes me emotional.''

The emotions came out when on the stage at AT&T Stadium, speaking to Cowboys Nation while clad in a bold-plaid sports coat.

"I remember when I was a rookie and camp to my first Kickoff Luncheon, and I was the most-plained-dressed guy up there,'' Lee told me. "I still don't have good taste. But other people do. They help me out.''

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