Tyler Guyton grew up a Texas kid, a Cowboys fan in a family full of Cowboys fans. So getting to take the field in the silver and blue as the team’s most recent first-round draft pick was a very big deal for the left tackle.
A “dream come true,” he called it.
“I just thought about all the times that I’ve watched the Cowboys play,” Guyton told reporters Sunday after the team’s preseason opener, the first time the 22-year-old had been in full uniform, complete with the star logo on his helmet. “It’s really been years and years of me watching, and finally getting to play was super cool to me. I know that my family is super excited. I’m also super excited about it. I just wish we would have won.”
The one-point loss in the exhibition game won’t count toward the team’s final record, but the occasion will live forever for Guyton as the moment he truly became a Cowboy. And as the club’s apparent left tackle of the future, it was an auspicious debut.
“I thought I did pretty good, handled my business,” he said. “Things to work on, of course, but I got the butterflies out.”
In fact, Guyton says it took him exactly one play to shake off the jitters. The 6-foot-8, 322-pounder came in after starter Chuma Edoga left with a foot injury in the opening quarter, and he made his massive presence felt immediately.
Guyton diet pancake on his first NFL snap pic.twitter.com/zcVFjsNDk8
— Burgers and Blitzes (@Not2BeTrite) August 11, 2024
It was reassuring to see, especially after the rookie missed several days of practice in the week leading up to the game with an illness. But Guyton promises it’s nothing to be concerned about moving forward.
“I’m feeling good,” he said. “Working my way back.”
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Guyton had actually reached his planned snap count by halftime, according to Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, but he was able to get some solid extra work in the second half with Edoga out.
“Felt good about where he was conditionwise with the illness,” McCarthy explained from the podium. “He was able to get back and play some.”
Much to the chagrin, likely, of Rams linebacker Zach VanValkenburg. The third-year defender found himself lined up across from No. 60 often and was on the receiving end of several major collisions, including one where Guyton absolutely blew up both VanValkenburg and Cowboys wide receiver Jalen Cropper, who was already blocking him.
Tyler Guyton lays a huge block on the move pic.twitter.com/NfLaLmkp82
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) August 11, 2024
Cowboys fans may have mentally checked the box that Guyton is the real deal. But for the first-year Oklahoma product, it was just a first step, and there’s still a ton to absorb this preseason.
“We can learn from every single play,” he told media members. “Different looks that we’re going to get from different teams. And we’ll play the Rams again, so I think we’ll learn a lot.”
Guyton will see the Rams again soon: this week at a second joint practice between the clubs and then maybe again in the postseason. But there will certainly be rematches down the road of what promises to be- at least based on Sunday’s dream come true- a long and successful Cowboys career.
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