Jason Garrett: Waiting on tests for Travis Frederick, won’t say whether surgery is an option

Training camp and preseason action are rolling along and our coverage rolls along as we check in with the head coach at his press conference today.

Jason Garrett took the podium on Tuesday. Here’s what he had to say (all answers are paraphrases of Garrett, not direct quotes).

Travis Frederick has been getting tests the last couple of days

Jason Garrett had no update regarding Travis Frederick besides saying they are waiting on test results. Said it was “hard for [him] to say” whether or not surgery was an option. He said that they were evaluating the All-Pro center, and left it at that. He declined further comment.

It’s difficult to find a balance in the preseason

It’s obviously tough to figure out how much you need to play guys in order to get them ready for the regular season because you risk injury. Jason Garrett noted that this is the obvious question and said that it “changes every year” depending on how young your team is, how veteran the team is particular positions, and other sorts of discussions.

“We’re just tryign to get Randy back and going”

When asked about having Randy Gregory out with the first team on Monday, Jason Garrett talked about just trying to get Randy Gregory “back.” Said he did a good job in the game and in practice but he needs to put his hand down, play run defense and rush the passer and just get back all those reps he missed. Obviously there’s a lot for Randy to overcome having missed as much football time as he did, but it seems like he’s on the right path moving forward.

Cowboys feel Jeron Johnson can be “a down safety, a deep safety”

Jason Garrett was quick to mention that Kris Richard had worked with Jeron Johnson in Seattle, also said he has scheme familiarity and personal familiarity. He provided somewhat of a generic description on the team’s new safety noting he could play down (on the line) or deep. Dallas has yet to pursue any big name that plenty of fans would prefer (you know the names).

Jason Garrett thinks the defensive tackles need work, to “practice and play”

When asked how the defensive tackles have progressed with Maliek Collins and David Irving absent, Jason Garrett noted that the results have been good, but that there’s work that needs to be done. He said there have been no obstacles or setbacks for Maliek and that he’ll continue doing more in practice to get ready to play.

Datone Jones won’t practice for “the next couple of weeks”

This isn’t ideal to hear, and obviously you never want a player to be hurt. Jason Garrett noted that it would obviously factor into the overall impressions of the 53-man roster, but didn’t expand beyond that. The Cowboys have had a few injuries pop up as of late, unfortunately Datone is among them and seems like he will be for a while.

Leighton Vander Esch won’t practice on Tuesday or the next few days

Womp womp.