“It’s a long season, and we want to get in and out of as many personnel groups as we can.”
Be careful what you wish for, Mike McCarthy.
Those words from his Wednesday press conference, just before the team’s practice at the Ford Center, took on a very different hue just a couple hours later as eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith limped off the field.
The 12th-year anchor of the offensive line suffered a brutal leg injury, later determined to be an avulsion fracture. It will almost certainly require surgery and sideline the 31-year-old until December at best… and could even hasten the end of his injury-plagued playing career.
The loss throws an unsettled Cowboys’ front five even further into chaos, just 18 days before the regular season opener against Tampa Bay.
The team now has to go back to the drawing board to decide who will be the primary protector of Dak Prescott’s blind side. That’s no small task, considering that 24 hours before, the head coach admitted they didn’t even have the two spots next to Smith figured out.
Tulsa rookie Tyler Smith was drafted in the first round with lofty expectations. A left tackle by trade, he also has experience at left guard. Common sense suggested that he’d play guard alongside Tyron Smith this season and eventually slide over to be the tackle of the future.
But as of Wednesday afternoon, the 21-year-old was still nursing a minor ankle injury. And McCarthy wasn’t even ready to give him the edge over Connor McGovern at guard anyway.
“Those decisions haven’t been made,” the coach told reporters. “If we started [the season] today, Connor would play there. Obviously, I think Tyler is coming along strong. He does a lot of good things. He’s like the rest of them; he needs to play. Just needs to play and keep getting better.
“I don’t think you take a rookie and just line him up as the starter, either,” he continued. “That’s why you have competition. That’s why those two guys are competing for a position. It’s only going to make us better at the left guard position.”
Holding a rookie back to foster an extended competition is a luxury that may have limped away Wednesday night the same time No. 77 did.
Now, in the light of Tyron’s looming absence, it would seem even more obvious that Tyler will have to start somewhere along the line this season: either at guard as originally thought, with someone else brought up (or in) to play tackle… or in the tackle spot where he was likely intended to go at some point anyway.
As for McGovern, the coaching staff continues to be enamored with his versatility, but they have plans for him even outside of the offensive line.
“Connor definitely has value at pother positions, which I value a lot,” McCarthy explained. “I think he’s a damn good fullback. I think if he played fullback 10 to 12 plays a game, I think he’d be recognized for it… Connor’s also done the big tackle for us, the tight end, so all those things are still viable… Connor took some snaps last night at center, trying to get him some work potentially Friday night at center. He’s been the third center for us last year, so just hit on all those different things.”
Right now, though, McGovern would be the fifth center the team has. Unrafted free agents Alec Lindstrom and James Empey were signed this spring, and 2021 practice squadder Braylon Jones was elevated, all to compete behind third-year snap man Tyler Biadasz.
That makes yet another OL spot the team is still tinkering with.
“It’s just forecasting ahead,” McCarthy said. “Do you have four quarterbacks, or do you have three? No different at center. You have eight guys up, you’ve got to have a third center. It’s just making sure we’re covered there. I feel very great about Tyler Biadasz and what he’s done. You really like the other young centers, too. Alec Lindstrom’s going to do some individual today [Wednesday] so he can work back in, see if he can maybe get some snaps Friday.”
Perennial All-Pro Zack Martin appears to be locked in at right guard. (Even though he was pressed into emergency service at right tackle briefly in 2020 due to injuries, the veteran has likely earned the right to decline any position shifts at this point in his career.) And Terence Steele apparently showed enough promise (or at least availability) at right tackle to make La’el Collins expendable. Now the club can only hope they were correct in that assessment.
And that entire aforementioned cavalcade of offensive line options doesn’t even include mammoth rookie Matt Waletzko or second-year project Josh Ball, both drafted as tackles, and both suddenly in the conversation for a more important role with Tyron Smith lost.
Waletzko has been out with a shoulder injury that will need surgery but might be able to wait until the offseason; Ball spent 2021 on injured reserve and has met with lackluster reviews from most observers in his 2022 preseason action.
McCarthy, though, maintained an optimistic view on both.
“He did some team [work],” the coach said Wednesday of Waletzko. “Hopefully he can do more today. We’re not doing a whole lot of individual things; we’re getting very quickly into the team stuff. Want to see him take that step so hopefully we’ll feel good after today and he’ll play Friday.
“I think Josh Ball has [been] growing each week: a great example of someone who needs the reps. I think he’s benefited not only from the joint practices but the high quality of reps he’s had in the first two preseason games. [Third-year tackle Aviante Collins] has done a heck of a job, too. Those guys have been out there playing. That’s why it’s good to get Matt out there. Young guys that are growing.”
But again, all those things were said before Tyron Smith’s hamstring gave way Wednesday night.
Now those young guys will have to do a whole lot more growing up. And in a hurry.
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