Dallas Cowboys expected to lose Johnathan Hankins for extended time with pectoral injury

The Dallas Cowboys received a tough injury update on tackle Johnathan Hankins, who left last week’s game with a pectoral strain. Hankins was injured apparently on a fourth-down stop by the Dallas defense and attempted to enter the game again while testing the extent of his injury on the sideline.

Unfortunately for Dallas, his official injury designation is a pectoral strain that could cause him to miss some time over the next few weeks.

Johnathan Hankins suffers pectoral injury

“Cowboys DT Johnathan Hankins has a sprained pectoral muscle that’s considered to be significant,” detailed The Athletic‘s Jon Machota.

The news comes at a rough time for Dallas as they pursue a potential division title while still two games behind the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite needing some outside help from another team to defeat their rival, Dallas holds a little bit of their own destiny in hand with a Dec. 24 showdown at home against the Eagles.

With Hankins recovering from his pectoral tear, it is possible that his recovery will stretch beyond the Dec. 24 game and leave Dallas thin on the defensive line for the matchup.

Dallas traded to bring in Hankins earlier this season and shore up their defensive line for a playoff push. The Cowboys traded a 2023 sixth-round pick for Hankins and a 2024 seventh-round pick from the Las Vegas Raiders — a move to provide some depth at the nose tackle position.

Since joining the Cowboys, Hankins has averaged over 25 snaps on defense per game and has become a talented run-stopper for the defense. Dallas brought Hankins in to provide additional power against the run game after opening the season with an excellent pass defense and a struggling run defense.

Hankins entered the league with the New York Giants as a second-round draft pick in 2013. In 10 seasons before coming to Dallas, Hankins racked up 366 tackles, 36 tackles for a loss and 14.5 sacks.