Dez Bryant Injury: Injuries Becoming Alarming Pattern for Young Star

Just a few weeks into what is only his second season in the NFL, Dez Bryant has once again been bitten by the injury bug.

Last season as a rookie, Bryant missed significant time with a broken ankle. This season, he is dealing with a nagging thigh injury.

Injuries are just a part of life in the NFL, but if you are the Cowboys, you have to be concerned that his injuries are more than just isolated incidents. They may very well be the start of a more alarming pattern.

Seldom do NFL players complete a long, steady career without suffering some sort of injury, but there are certainly players that are more prone to injuries than others.

Given what we know about him so far, Bryant has the look of one of those injury-prone players. In addition to his two aforementioned injuries as an NFL player, Bryant suffered injuries at Oklahoma State as well. In 2008, he was forced to miss part of the Holiday Bowl, where he was having great success.

For now, the jury is still out. Two injuries do not an injury-prone player make. The broken ankle could have happened to anyone. Broken bones tend to have very little correlation to future injuries.

It's the thigh injury that is more alarming. The severity and description of the injury are very vague, and no one seems to know when he will be back to 100 percent or somewhere close to it.

If I'm Dez Bryant, I'm committing myself to rehabbing my aching thigh in a big way. I'm not saying that he isn't doing that right now, but he needs to do everything he can to try to prevent future injuries similar to this.

All eyes will be on Bryant in the near future. The success of the Cowboys' offense long-term is pretty closely-tied to how well Bryant plays. They need him to be healthy and playing well. At this point, though, I'm not sure that he can do that for them.