Darren McFadden opens Dallas Cowboys camp in a familiar way -- injured

Darren McFadden opened Dallas Cowboys training camp Thursday with an unfamiliar team… and in a painfully familiar way.

The oft-injured running back – now with the Cowboys after spending his first seven seasons with the Oakland Raiders – is hobbled again, nursing a bum hamstring. The Cowboys put him on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.

“He tweaked his hamstring maybe a couple of weeks ago and we don’t think it’s a serious thing,” Dallas Coach Jason Garrett said. “He’s working hard on his rehab and we just want to start with him being on PUP. We anticipate him being back sometime here in the next week or so.”

McFadden said he suffered the injury while running pass routes. He is coming off his first NFL season in which he appeared in all 16 games. In his previous six seasons, he appeared in an average of 11 games per year.

“For me, it’s one of those things I hate it happening right now,” he said of his latest injury. “But if I’m out there grinding going 110% and trying to get better it’s something that happened and I’m going to deal with it right now and just be ready to get back on the field when it’s time.”

McFadden and fellow running backs Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar are competing to replace last season’s NFL rushing champion, DeMarco Murray, now with Philadelphia. Dallas is planning to take a by-committee approach to running the football this season, and Randle is the early favorite to be the team’s top back.