Dallas Cowboys won't bring in outside veterans to replace Sean Lee

Sean Lee has been productive for the Cowboys when he's played, but has struggled to stay healthy. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

The Dallas Cowboys have a serious defensive problem on their hands with the loss of linebacker Sean Lee to the ACL injury he suffered on Tuesday during the first day of OTAs. Now, with one of their defensive stars set to miss a significant amount of time, the question immediately turns to who the replacement will be.

That replacement  won't be from the outside of the organization according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The Cowboys are choosing to work with what they have.

Of course, when an unfortunate injury such as this occurs this late into the offseason, people jump to assume a team could look to bring in a big name from outside the organization to fill the void.

Rapoport's colleague at the NFL Network, Gil Brandt, even went this route on Wednesday when he suggested  the Cowboys could potentially make a run at the retired Brian Urlacher to be a quick fix, especially given that he's so familiar with Rod Marinelli's defense from the time he spent with him in Chicago.

At least Lee's injury came early enough for Dallas to formulate a plan to account for his loss, either by doing a big job on [Anthony] Hitchens or by finding someone else. Perhaps the Cowboys could coax former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who knows defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli's system, out of retirement.At this point, the team's best options, should they really want to promote from within, are recent draft pick Anthony Hitchens, who was slated to back up Lee in the middle, or Devonte Holloman, who played sparingly in the 2013 season and would also have to make a transition to the inside.