The Dallas Cowboys held a season-closing press conference on Wednesday and discussed a variety of topics, including the most recent season and the future that they are hoping is very different from it.
Among the subjects that came up was offensive lineman Tyler Smith. There was a report in the last month that the Cowboys would consider playing Smith at left tackle in the future. To be clear this report came shortly after he played the position in the team’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
From a timeline standpoint:
- Tyler was drafted to play left guard in 2022
- Tyron Smith’s injury forced the Cowboys to play him at left tackle for most of that season
- He has developed into an amazing guard ever since then
- The Cowboys made him the highest-paid guard in the NFL shortly into this most recent campaign
It did feel in December like the move came out of nowhere and Brian Schottenheimer was able to shed some more light on it in this press conference.
Schotty noted that he had recently met with Smith and expressed that the team believes him to be an amazing guard, but that they will not rule out him playing tackle in the future if that allows them to form their best overall combination of linemen. He noted that Smith was receptive to the conversation.
Obviously establishing where Smith will play is important relative to the construction of the offensive line and roster at large. It makes sense to assume that the Cowboys have a plan in place that they don’t want to be totally forthcoming with so as not to tip their hand. This will be something to monitor in the coming months.
