With Tyron Smith out, what will the Cowboys do at left tackle?

Whether or not this is the last we see of Smith in the NFL is a conversation for another day. Dallas is hopeful he can return sometime in December, but you cannot count on that. What exactly are the Cowboys’ options at left tackle in 2022 without Smith?

An in-house solution

There’s several iterations of this. At this point, the most likely option seems to be moving 2022 first-round pick Tyler Smith out to left tackle. He played left tackle in college, and split between guard and tackle in offseason programs. But in training camp, he has exclusively been at left guard.

Smith was the heir apparent to the elder Smith at left tackle, but this injury may have seriously sped up that timeline. Asking Smith to move out to left tackle on such short notice after working on the interior all of training camp might be asking a ton, but it also might be their best option.

You could also argue that moving Smith out to left tackle and sliding Connor McGovern in at left guard makes two positions worse. Smith might not be ready at left tackle, and McGovern has struggled at left guard in the past. McGovern was certain to be the swing guard behind Tyler Smith prior to Tyron Smith’s injury.

Terence Steele played six games at left tackle in 2021 when Tyron Smith was hurt. But he looked significantly worse on the left side than he did on the right side, and I don’t think Dallas wants to move Steele out of that right tackle position.

Zack Martin has kicked out to tackle before, but he was injured in the process and he was vocal that he does not want to be moved again. Martin has earned that right, plus there is some validity to the point that moving around on the OL can cause injury. Dallas obviously cannot afford to lose Martin as well.

I seriously doubt Ball or Waletzko are being considered as options to step in. Maybe at this point they are even more important depth pieces, but they cannot roll either of them out to protect Dak Prescott on a regular basis.

Free agency or trade

There are some options out there for Dallas. The cruel irony is that they had La’el Collins signed through 2024 at a very affordable $10 million per season, and voluntarily opted out of that. On top of that, they did nothing to replace the tackle depth and now are scrambling on *checks calendar* August 25 to figure out not just who the left tackle will be, but who the swing tackle will be. Addressing this when there are plenty of viable options available in March or April seems to be an obvious answer, here we are, looking through the August free agency scraps.

Dallas could explore the trade market. The Patriots have been rumored to be shopping Isaiah Wynn and Jane Slater floated the idea of Josh Jones of the Cardinals.