The shuffling continues along the Cowboys offensive line. As the team kicked off its mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, head coach Mike McCarthy announced the latest iteration of the offense’s front five, one that sees a couple of key puzzle pieces clicking back into familiar spots.
“We’ll move Tyron [Smith] to left tackle and Tyler Smith to left guard to start this week,” McCarthy told reporters prior to Tuesday’s session. “We’ll work on these different combinations throughout the spring.”
That’s the left-side lineup the Cowboys went with during last summer’s training camp, asking then-rookie Tyler Smith to learn guard play next to the perennial Pro Bowler, at his usual tackle position.
But that plan went out the window shortly before the beginning of the regular season when the veteran went down with a hamstring tear. Tyler slid over to tackle, his college spot, while Connor McGovern was the Week 1 starter at guard.
Cowboys are making an O-line switch today for mandatory minicamp, coach Mike McCarthy said: Tyron Smith will flip from right tackle to left tackle, Tyler Smith from LT to left guard. pic.twitter.com/rB9ZPiy1Bz
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) June 6, 2023
Second-year man Matt Waletzko will get the early reps for now at right tackle, McCarthy explained. Zack Martin and Tyler Biadasz will ultimately fill their usual roles at right guard and center, respectively.
McCarthy and the Cowboys coaching staff did some experimenting during OTAs last month, giving several linemen some experience at different spots, including Tyron Smith at right tackle, Matt Farniok and Chuma Edoga at left guard, Josh Ball and Farniok at right guard, and Tyler Smith at left tackle.
Positional flexibility was one reason; certain players not being available for the field portions of the voluntary sessions was another.
[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]
The line still isn’t at full strength, either, with Terence Steele still recuperating from December’s ACL injury. It’s not known where he will fit back into the mix once healthy, or even if he’ll return to the starting lineup at all.
Steele could conceivably find himself on swing tackle duty, depending on how this latest version of the ever-morphing Cowboys offensive line performs in practice.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
[mm-video type=video id=01h28vm1v0nqr0tybnr3 playlist_id=01eqbwens7sctqdrqg player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01h28vm1v0nqr0tybnr3/01h28vm1v0nqr0tybnr3-510330a8cc8e3b558d2456932f69fcd6.jpg]
[lawrence-newsletter]