According to ESPN's Todd Archer, projected strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee over the summer. His recovery is not yet complete, and he may be hampered as training camp is set to get underway in two weeks.
Due to having the offseason surgery, Sensabaugh will be allowed to report to camp with the rookies and other players on the mend on July 25th. The rest of the team will report on the 29th for practices that start on the 30th.
Sensabaugh is penciled in as the starter at strong safety after signing a five-year extension during December of last season. At the time of the extension, Sensabaugh was playing at a respectable level, ranking as the 10th best safety on the season according to Pro Football Focus. His performance dipped over the final month of the season and he ended up with the 29th best overall grade. A bothersome knee might help explain the drop in his performance.
While he is expected to be fully healthy for the start of the regular season, this opportunity does open the door for safeties Barry Church and rookie Matt Johnson to show what they can do. The Cowboys enjoy having interchangeable safeties but most likely signed free agent Brodney Pool (Jets) as a free safety considering the strength of his game is playing centerfield as opposed to being in-the-box.
While Gerald Sensabaugh sat out a few OTA practices and the Cowboys mini-camp due to his knee, Church took most of the first team reps. Church impressed onlookers with his performance after playing spot in-the-box duty throughout the 2011 season, and he's been strongly rumored to be in competition for a starting spot. Matt Johnson, when he was finally cleared of his academic responsibilities and able to join the workouts, also garnered some snaps with the first team. Camp hasn't even started, and already the competition is heating up.
[UPDATE] As word has circulated the webisphere, Gerald's received plenty of well wishes. He tweeted to his followers the... well, the following...
Thanks to all of the well wishers #CowboyNation very minor procedure last week to clean up the knee...my plan is to be ready for Oxnard
— Gerald Sensabaugh (@Gsensabaugh) July 16, 2012