In Saturday's preseason action against the Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys fourth-year linebacker Anthony Hitchens suffered a tibial fracture in his right knee that will require surgery.

According to Todd Archer of ESPN, the injury is expected to sideline the 25-year-old for the next two months.

 Dallas Cowboys middle linebacker Anthony Hitchens suffered a tibial plateau fracture in his right knee and will need eight weeks to recover, according to a source.

Along with that, the surgery process will also inform the Cowboys whether Hitchens suffered any additional damage to his knee. When he had initially suffered the injury in the final minute of the first half of Saturday's preseason game, there was some serious fear that he had suffered a torn ACL.

Last season, Dallas saw star wide receiver Dez Bryant suffered the same ailment, forcing him to miss three games. The absence of Hitchens now shifts that void over to Justin Durant and Jaylon Smith, who is set to play in his first full season after missing his entire rookie campaign due to a knee injury.

The former Iowa product had latched onto a prominent role defensively for the Cowboys in his first three seasons and was coming off a productive 2016 campaign where he recorded a career-high 78 tackles, 1.5 sacks, four tackles for loss, and five quarterback pressures while playing in 16 games. He was the starting middle linebacker on Dallas' depth chart.