Reinforcements could be coming on both the offense and defense ahead of the Cowboys’ annual Thanksgiving gauntlet, even though it may be too late to salvage the greater 2024 season by the time they actually re-enter the lineup.

Wide receiver Brandin Cooks and rookie defensive end Marshawn Kneeland had their 21-day practice windows opened by the team on Wednesday. The Cowboys have three weeks to evaluate both players in a practice setting as they return from injury; that’s the deadline for either moving them back to the active roster or placing them on season-ending injured reserve.

Head coach Mike McCarthy had identified both players as being close to a return during a Tuesday press conference.

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Cooks has been sidelined since just after the Cowboys’ Week 4 win over the Giants. Following the 20-15 win in which he caught just one pass for 16 yards, the 11th-year veteran, who had been dealing with a knee issue since training camp, underwent a meniscus procedure while in New York. The Cowboys’ WR2 option- behind CeeDee Lamb- developed an infection after that procedure, which led to him being placed on IR.

Cooks, 31, has 19 targets on the year, with nine receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown.

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Kneeland, the team’s second-round draft pick out of Western Michigan, exited Week 5’s win over Pittsburgh with a non-contact knee injury after just four snaps. While an MRI showed the ACL to be intact, arthroscopic surgery was required to repair the tear.

That injury proved especially costly for a team that was already perilously thin at defensive end well before mid-October; primary options Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence had gone down by that point, and Sam Williams was lost for the entire season during the summer.

Kneeland had registered 10 tackles, three QB hits, a defended pass, and a tackle for loss before his injury.

Both players are expected to resume practicing with the team on Wednesday, and both could be re-activated to the 53-man roster before Sunday’s divisional showdown with the Commanders. Someone else would need to be moved off the roster for that to happen.