Scoop: Cowboys MRI on Zack Martin shows no damage

OXNARD - Zack Martin, the All-Pro right guard of the Dallas Cowboys, is one of the reasons this offensive engine goes. And the team got good medical news, sources tell me, regarding the Friday MRI on his back ... that should allow him to keep going.

Martin, along with holdout running back Ezekiel Elliott maybe this club's best overall player, was at least a mild injury concern earlier on Friday as the team concluded its first week of training camp here in California.

The concern was serious enough that Martin went from being among the many players who did not practicing here on Friday to being a player who underwent an MRI to try to find out more about his back soreness and back spasms.

Martin, 28 and a perennial All-Pro, did not participate in the team’s walkthrough this morning, as swing guard Xavier Su'a-Filo, a young journeyman, worked in his place.

“He’s moving around fine, but the (medical staffers) just want to look into it,” coach Jason Garrett said of Martin's back.

At midday, Martin was spotted on the team's campus moving just fine. As I wrote at the time, maybe that was part of his iron-man toughness, as he has only missed two games in his stellar career. But now we know that the soreness is likely nothing more than that, and likely nothing structural. The Cowboys will, I am told, continue to be cautious here, so maybe more days off are in the offing for Martin, even as the team preps for Sunday's Blue-White Scrimmage here in Oxnard.

Also sitting out Friday with a "veterans' day off'' was line mate Travis Frederick. Among the other players missing from work of course is Elliott, the two-time NFL leading rusher who is in a contract dispute with the club.

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