Cowboys' Lee Makes Decision To Bypass $2 Million Roster Bonus
Sunday was a very expensive day for Dallas Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee.
But it might go down in legend as one of the most unselfish days ever by an NFL player as well.
On Thursday, the reports surfaced that Lee tweaked his hamstring in practice.
It would turn out to be a very costly tweak.
The Dallas Morning News reported that if Lee played in the Cowboys final game of the season on Sunday at home against the Washington Redskins, he would have played at least 80% of Dallas' defensive snaps this season, triggering a $2 million roster bonus that would have been owed to him.
But after warming up, Lee decided that taking the field injured would have been a selfish move that would have hurt his teammates, and he asked the team to list him as "inactive."
Lee was asked after the game if the Cowboys approached him about sitting out of the contest.
"The didn't discuss any of it with me," Lee answered. "The decision comes down purely if I can help the team or not."
According to the Dallas Morning News, Lee finished the season 32 snaps shy on the season of meeting the bonus after the Cowboys defense was on the field for 65 plays Sunday against Washington.
"I'm blessed to be on this team," Lee said. "My main concern is finding a way for us to be a better football team, a better defense next year, for me to be a better player and, for me, I wasn't going to be effective today. I had to stay off the field because I wasn't going to help our team."
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