The clock is ticking toward the Cowboys’ Week 1 game, when they’ll host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Once the opening Sunday night of the regular season arrives, the team will have to put somebody at left tackle.
If they know who that somebody is, they’re not ready to say… though they say- as always- that they like the guys they have.
“The plan is for it to be an in-house person,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said in a radio interview Monday.
Jones was asked for some insight into the coaching staff’s thought process regarding the position following the loss of eight-time Pro Bowler Tyron Smith just three weeks before the season opener.
“That’s why we drafted, at the end of the day,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan, “why we did draft Tyler Smith. I think we’re very much on record saying we thought he was going to be our future left tackle.”
Yet after limited work there in minicamp, Tyler Smith slid over to learn left guard duties- and stayed there exclusively- once training camp got underway and Tyron came back to work.
“We were looking for ways to get [Tyler] on the field sooner and thought with Tyron coming into camp healthy- you know, Tyron is one of the best in the business when healthy, if not the best- that’s why we were playing him at guard. But we really think his long-term future in the NFL is left tackle. It’s why we drafted him in the first round, to ultimately be our future left tackle and [we] feel good about where that is.”
But where, exactly, is that?
“I was ready as soon as I walked in the door,” Tyler said this past Friday about his chances to play left tackle. “I knew as soon as I put my name on that piece of paper, I would be held to a certain standard.”
Tampa comes in less than two weeks. Is that really enough time for the 21-year-old to re-learn the playbook at a different position?
Maybe, maybe not. But consider that an ankle injury has also held him out of work for the better part of a very precious week, no matter which slot he lines up in.
Jones says that part will change, at least; Tyler has been cleared to practice once again.
“He’s ready to go,” Jones explained. “Barring something unforeseen to start practice, he was a green light to start practice today.”
But Tyron’s nasty hamstring injury has left the Cowboys between a proverbial rock and a hard place, having to go back to the drawing board on what was already a rather shaky plan.
The team had very little O-line depth to begin with. Now one or more of those bench players may be called upon to step up in a big way: maybe at left tackle, maybe at left guard.
“Of course, we’re getting [injured rookie Matt] Waletzko back here. You hate he missed two to three weeks of camp. Obviously, feel good about him,” said Jones. “[Josh] Ball is almost a rookie. He didn’t get to pad up any last year, and he’s made progress in camp. So feel good about that, and certainly the interior spots with Connor McGovern- I think he’s had a really solid camp- [Matt] Farniok, those type of players. We feel good about where we’re going and what our situation looks like.”
The obvious answer, at least to a sizable contingent of observers, is to get outside help. There are several veteran free agents still on the market, and a host of talented linemen who could potentially be pried away from their current teams if the price were right.
That the Cowboys haven’t already brought in reinforcements is puzzling to many, but Jones hinted that the team hasn’t completely let that window close.
“I say it always: we’re always looking to upgrade our roster, and certainly we’ll look to continue to make ourselves better. Certainly, the offensive line is one where we aren’t loaded with depth there, but certainly something we’ll continue to look at as things come to fruition over the next two to three days as teams are going to have to expose a lot of players, and we’ll look at that and we’ll look at the veterans that are out there and see if we need to beef up right there.”
So never say never. Maybe the answer indeed makes itself obvious as the other 31 teams in the league cut their rosters to 53 players by Tuesday. Maybe someone else’s castoff will be the safety net Dallas needs.
But Jones also admits that when the team takes the field versus the Bucs on Sept. 11, all the names on the jerseys in front of Dak Prescott will probably be familiar to Cowboys fans.
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