It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. After all, the Cowboys have asked him to do it before.
As Tyler Guyton’s recovery from a high-ankle sprain lingered into its fourth week and first-year backup Nathan Thomas dealt with a shoulder injury, the hole at left tackle- the primary protector of Dak Prescott’s blind side- was simply too big and glaring to not look at the two-time Pro Bowler one spot over.
Tyler Smith, it should be pointed out, was drafted in 2022 to eventually be the Cowboys’ left tackle of the future. So when the team came to him early in the week with a request to kick out to left tackle for Week 16’s home date with the Chargers, the 24-year-old barely blinked.
“I’m going to do what’s best for the team,” Smith told reporters after Sunday’s loss.
The Cowboys lost to Los Angeles by a 34-17 score, but Smith playing out of position wasn’t a factor in the least. It’s familiar territory for him, in fact. The versatile lineman- who played tackle in college- started at left tackle for the Cowboys in a game last season and, of course, turned in a revelatory rookie season in the role when he filled in for future Hall of Famer Tyron Smith for all of 2022… on almost no notice and with zero snaps there in training camp.
“Put him at center; he can do it all,” Prescott joked in his postgame press conference. “We’re good at center, but honestly, he can play whatever he wants. That’s a credit to that guy. I go back to his rookie year when he was taking all the snaps at guard, Tyron [Smith]’s at left tackle. Tyron gets hurt the week of the game; everybody’s like, ‘Oh gosh, they gotta put this first-rounder out there who hasn’t taken snaps at tackle all offseason. Can he do it? Will he be good enough?” And the guy goes and has a Pro Bowl year at left tackle. Then the next year, they move him back to guard, right? All-Pro at guard. So the moment they told me this early in the week, that they’re going to go with Tyler at left tackle, I was great with it. No hesitation in my mind. There was no doubt of what he was going to be able to do.”
With Smith at left tackle and T.J. Bass at left guard, the offensive line didn’t miss a beat and allowed just one sack on the afternoon.
After the loss dropped Dallas to 6-8-1, head coach Brian Schottenheimer revealed that Smith would remain at tackle for the final two games of the season as the team fights to finish .500.
“We’re playing to win these games, and we felt like he gives us the best chance right now,” Schottenheimer said after the game.
There are no current plans to end Guyton’s season, Schottenheimer said, but he admitted that the short prep week would likely make it difficult for him to play Thursday versus Washington. If Guyton does return for the Week 18 finale against the Giants, Schottenheimer explained that he “could end up being the swing tackle.”
For Smith, even though the mechanics of how he does his job on gameday has changed overnight (again), everything else stays exactly the same.
“The standard remains the standard for us, regardless of if you’re going right or you’re going left, you’re going guard to tackle, the standard is going to be the same for me, and I’m going to hold myself to the high standard, no matter what,” he told reporters.
“I think the biggest thing for me was just getting out there, just being on my fundamentals and my technique, things of that nature. Ultimately, I think it’s about being the best at both, for me.”
“I take extreme pride in it. It’s not something not easy to do, switch from position to position, especially not having those reps all year.”
Schottenheimer acknowledged that Smith’s high-level versatility is rare in today’s ultra-specialized NFL.
“He’s such a luxury to have,” the coach said.
“He certainly can play out there. When we made the decision, we talked to [him] and the decision was made we’re going to do it for the year.”
The Cowboys made Smith the highest-paid guard in the league in September with a four-year $96 million dollar extension, but tackle money is different. Left tackle money, however, is a whole ‘nother story. If the long-term plan involves keeping Smith at left tackle and moving Guyton to the right side (perhaps replacing Terence Steele) and finding a new solution at left guard, Smith suddenly becomes something of a bargain at his current payday.
But as with everything else, Smith is prepared for that, too.
“I’m a smart player,” he said. “I understand who I am, where I am, and ultimately what I’m getting paid to do. So I’m going to be smart. We’ll have those conversations when we have those conversations.”
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: ‘We’re playing to win’: Cowboys to move Tyler Smith to LT for remainder of season
Reporting by Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
