The Edmonton Eskimos are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best when it comes to National linebacker Cory Greenwood.
Monday Greenwood left practice on a cart back to the dressing room. Tuesday general manager Brock Sunderland gave an update on Greenwood’s status and said the club is still waiting for more information.
“We’re getting him evaluated, it’s a leg injury and we’re going to know more specifics after he gets an M.R.I. and we’ll go from there.”
Greenwood, who was signed as a free-agent after playing the previous three seasons with the Toronto Argonauts, is the projected starter at WILL linebacker. Head coach Jason Maas said while he’s taking a business as usual approach he’s naturally concerned about Greenwood’s health.
“Yeah I mean I care about our players bottom line, I care about them as far as people more than anything and so when you get a guy that has an injury and goes down and you’re thinking it might be a little longer than expected you feel for the guy,” Maas said.
“I want to be positive until I hear the complete results so therefore right now it just sucks that he’s not out here more than anything to compete.”
The Eskimos decided in the off-season to flip the ratio at WILL linebacker to a Canadian spot after Deon Lacey left for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. The Eskimos, for now, will stay the course ratio-wise, opening the door for two Eskimos who are both in their third CFL season in Adam Konar and Blair Smith.
Konar has been taking the majority of first team reps in the absence of Greenwood. Konar has only three defensive tackles for his career which has been plagued by injuries. Konar is now healthy and said he’s ready to take the next step.
“You don’t want to see anybody get hurt but that’s the way football goes, it’s going to happen to somebody and it just so happened to happen to Cory,” Konar said. “It opens up the opportunity for a couple of us to battle out for that WILL position which is a good opportunity.
“We all came in ready knowing we’d be kind of battling for that spot so it just opens the opportunity so it’s nice.”
Smith has seen most of his playing time on special teams recording 35 special teams tackles and just four defensive tackles. He spent his last two seasons backing up J.C. Sherritt at middle linebacker.
Receiver Brandon Zylstra participated in the early portion of Tuesday’s session but left to continue rehab on a slight groin pull which knocked him out of practice during day one on Sunday. Maas said the injury first occurred prior to training camp and will let Zylstra rest and heal before bringing him back. The injury isn’t considered serious.
The Eskimos are back on the field Wednesday morning for two sessions at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
Comments