As the Cowboys kicked off training camp in Oxnard, California, last month, the vibes were undeniably bleak. Coach Mike McCarthy is coaching this season without any certainty about his future with the team. Dak Prescott, who finished second in NFL MVP voting last season after the best year of his career, is set to take the field without a new contract, in line to become a free agent at season’s end. CeeDee Lamb also careered last season, yet he has been a no-show at camp as he awaits a well-deserved extension. The team essentially sat out free agency, 32-year-old middle linebacker Eric Kendricks being the only addition of note.
All of the issues detailed fall at the office doors of Jerry and Stephen Jones. As Joey Ickes laid out on Twitter back in March, we are starting to understand the truth about this franchise: the guys running the most valuable entity in the league are flat-out cheap.
Another looming issue heading into the offseason was the need to revamp the once dominant offensive line. Left tackle Tyron Smith departed for the New York Jets; center Tyler Biadasz for the Washington Commanders. The Cowboys suddenly needed two new starters up front.
Dallas addressed both of these positions in the early rounds of the draft, selecting Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton with the 29th pick after trading back five spots and Kansas State’s Cooper Beebe in the third round. We have less than two weeks of camp reports to work with, but it appears that Beebe is in contention to start at center (a position he has never played). Guyton, meanwhile, will be the starting left tackle. A rookie on the blindside is obviously a fraught proposition. Again, it’s early. But if we’re to believe what we’re hearing and seeing from practice, Guyton appears to be a dude.
Note the contrast in addressing the myriad offseason issues. The first few headaches deal with contracts and negotiating (or lack thereof). The offensive line issues fall to Will McClay and his scouting department. The latter is just about the only real positive story we have had out of this training camp.
I’m certainly not ready to pencil Guyton in for a speech in Canton one day. But should we be surprised by this? Smith and guard Zach Martin, both first-round selections, will be first-ballot Hall of Famers. Travis Frederick, another first-rounder, was on the same trajectory before his career was cut short due to health concerns. Tyler Smith, the team’s 2022 first-round pick, earned All-Rookie honors as a tackle in his inaugural campaign and was a second-team All-Pro guard in his sophomore season. The starter at right tackle, Terrance Steele, was an undrafted free agent whom the scouts identified as a potential starter. They were right (again). Say what you want about the tenures of Biadasz and guard Connor Williams, but they were proficient enough that other teams wanted their services when they departed Dallas. Simply put, no team has a better track record over the past 12 years of identifying and cultivating offensive line talent.
Perhaps you have seen the clip of Guyton straight up handling one of the league’s best pass rushers in a padded practice. Watching the rookie battle Micah Parsons reminded me of Tyron Smith talking about the invaluable experience he gained early in his career by getting reps against DeMarcus Ware. The Cowboys open the season in Cleveland against the Browns. Guyton’s first regular-season snaps will be the definition of baptism by fire, as he tries to do the impossible and wrangle Myles Garrett. Attempting to block Parsons is the closest approximation to that task possible.
It helps that he got supplemental work to prepare for the challenge. Guyton (and Beebe) spent much of the offseason working with offensive line guru Duke Manyweather at his facility in Frisco, per The Athletic. Martin, Steele, and Tyler and Tyron Smith have spent time working with Manyweather. I don’t mean to anoint Manyweather as some sort of kingmaker, but it’s evident he is highly capable of taking physical freaks and hammering the fundamentals to a point where they become second nature if they’re willing to put in the work. This was particularly invaluable for Guyton, who started 14 games on the offensive line in his college career. He was a basketball player who took up football late in high school, primarily as a defensive lineman. He began his college career at TCU, where on offense he lined up as a tight end/H-back. He transferred to Oklahoma before his junior year, and was limited to those 14 starts at right tackle due to injury.
The fact that Guyton has already acquitted himself nicely and is showing these flashes in camp despite his inexperience warrants the excitement and buzz around him. Dane Brugler’s draft guide described the potential scouts saw in Guyton in the run-up to the draft:
“A nimble big man, Guyton stays square to pass rushers with balanced lateral steps to easily redirect, and he does a great job working into open space with remarkable range (NFL scout: “The OU coaches just marvel at him. They call him different than everyone else they’ve had.”). He stays controlled with his punch to be a sticky blocker, although his accuracy and fit entry are underdeveloped, and his overall timing is not yet a strength to his game.”
This is in step with what the player he’ll line up next to, Smith, had to say about Guyton:
“I’ve been truly impressed. It’s not very often that you find a human being who measures how he does, 6-7, 330, and has light feet and can just move and just bully dudes. When he really becomes confident and gets the playbook down and does all that stuff, the sky is truly the limit for him and his development.”
As nihilistic as the fan base and most commentators are about the Cowboys’ trajectory, we have no reason to believe that Guyton can’t develop into an elite left tackle. He’s an extremely large ball of clay, and to be sure, there will be growing pains at a time when the margin for error up front is thin. But it’s clear that Guyton takes his craft seriously, and identifying that trait is what scouts do. The Cowboys’ scouts, in particular, do this as well as anyone in the business.
The people above them, however, have proven far less competent in their lane. Because time is a flat circle, Guyton will most likely one day have to hold out or negotiate through the media to get a well-deserved contract extension. That’s when he’ll truly be a Dallas Cowboy.
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