In an offseason mostly notable for good news, Dallas ended it with some awful news, as their best offensive lineman, Tyler Smith, will miss at least four weeks after having surgery on his thumb. His backup is T.J. Bass, who Dallas has confidence in, but after that, the Cowboys will have to scramble to find depth.
That won’t be through trade, as Dallas owner Jerry Jones said any moves along those lines would be on defense, and the Cowboys have created plenty of salary cap space by restructuring three deals. Meanwhile, the player Dallas got in the Micah Parsons trade, Kenny Clark, was voted captain, a reminder that the Cowboys did get something in return for Parsons.
Here is what
Dallas is up to as the countdown to kickoff winds down.
Tyler Smith out 4 to 6 weeks
Dallas got some bad news on the eve of its season opener, as star guard Tyler Smith, arguably the best player on the team, had surgery on his thumb and will miss the first four to six weeks. His thumb troubled him through camp and the final decision was to have corrective surgery.
He will move to the returnable IR.
"It's something that he's been dealing with," coach Brian Schottenheimer said of Smith. "It just felt like he couldn't do at a high level. It's a long season. It's unfortunate, but that's why we coveted T.J. Bass."
Bass will be the starting left guard now. The Cowboys gave the fourth-year pro Bass a second-round restricted free agent tender this offseason. He has started 10 games for the Cowboys in his first three years with the team, including five last year.
The most likely roster addition would be to elevate either Nick Leverett, Wanya Morris or both from the practice squad. Another option would be to sign free agent guard Will Hernandez, who has been cleared to return from an injured knee. Because of Smith’s ability to back up either tackle position, the Cowboys were likely to go into games with eight offensive linemen. Now they are more likely to take nine.
By the way, the most likely target date for Smith’s return would be the Week 6 game against the Green Bay Packers and Micah Parsons.
Jerry Jones talks trade
Dallas announced restructured deals for DaRon Bland, Kenny Clark and Jake Ferguson, designed to create $30 million of cap space, and now the reason is becoming clearer.
In an appearance on The Fan 105.3, owner Jerry Jones was asked if Dallas has been involved in trade talks and he didn’t duck the question.
”The best way for me to answer that is not timing wise, right on something this morning or this week, but if you look at it generally speaking, we're in play," Jones said. "And that's the best way to describe it."
He also narrowed down where Dallas would look to add.
”You could look for it to be defensively," Jones said. "You could more than likely see depth on defense. Defense would be the place."
He also pointed out what the restructured contracts mean for this discussion.
"The timing is conspicuously obvious. But yeah, we could use it for this year's team," Jones said. "The cap is fungible; it laps over into multi-years, 3 or 4 on parts that you make available. That's hard to put your finger on. But that does show that we have really viable, serious room financially to make a trade if we wanted to right now."
Dallas’ biggest area of defensive need is at cornerback.
Kenny Clark excited to wear captain’s patch
Somewhat lost in the handwringing over the year-old Micah Parsons trade is that the player Dallas got in return, tackle Kenny Clark, has been good. That was just acknowledged when he was voted captain by his teammates, joining Dak Prescott, Quinnen Williams and Brandon Aubrey.
"Yeah, I mean, it's huge," Clark told DallasCowboys.com about being voted captain. "It's something that you never take for granted and always are appreciative of — the team, my teammates viewing me as a leader. It's just my standard every day, just coming up here and showing the guys who I am and proving that every day."
Clark also talked about the challenges Dallas faces against New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart.
"He's a tough quarterback to go against," Clark told DallasCowboys.com. "He could throw the ball really well, and the biggest thing is just making sure our rushing lanes are clear. We've got to do a good job of containing them because he can get out the pocket and make some great plays on his feet."
Dallas Cowboys next game vs. Giants
The Dallas Cowboys open their season against the New York Giants on Sunday night football. The debut of new Giants coach John Harbaugh kicks off at 6:20 p.m. MT/7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
Dallas Cowboys merch
Dallas's official pro shop, home to a large assortment of merchandise, is here.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached, bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Cowboys lose star guard Tyler Smith for 4 to 6 weeks after surgery
