Spagnola: The Future Is Now At Left Tackle

[Havic]

Fisher needs to be the stop gap at LT this year, and Tyler can take over in year 2 or year 3 (if Smith is done or gets hurt again)

 

[blueblood70]

Well, I hope you are right. However if our 40 million dollar QB gets knocked out for the season because of Cowboys not having a solid plan B ar LT there will be a team mutiny.

you could go draft or pick up a name FA all you want as a PLANS but all good plans can also backfire ive watched teams all around the NFL take decades looking for those key players like QB, CB, DE and yup LT. you have to start somewhere.

 

[Rayman70]

Well, I hope you are right. However if our 40 million dollar QB gets knocked out for the season because of Cowboys not having a solid plan B ar LT there will be a team mutiny.

THIS^^ !!

 

[John813]

What could go wrong with an oline coach that didn’t want Smith now having to coach him up to play left tackle. Same oline coach who has a record of throwing players under the bus to ownership. Philbin placed blame on Tannehill back when he was the head coach at Miami and wanted to replace him with Carr.

 

[Motorola]

time to take the kid gloves off and let TS73 take his nfl lumps while starting. he wont be perfect but i like his aggressive demeanor and athletes, baptismal by fire..we will just let him go even if struggling .I wanted players like Aikman go through the same struggles. He turned out fine.

And man did #8 struggle.
Team was winless in all 11 games he started.
9 TDs, 18 INTs
52.9% completion pct
Yards per attempt 6.0
Yards per game 159.0
QB rating 55.7
To be fair - most of his teammates that season were just as bad.

 

[rambo2]

No one should ever take Spags seriously.

He has always been a puppet for Jerry and Stephen.

Yes, I remember last year when he was recommending that we draft Parsons. He was saying that he was a Lawrence Taylor type player coming out of college.

 

[stinkface]

Yes, I remember last year when he was recommending that we draft Parsons. He was saying that he was a Lawrence Taylor type player coming out of college.

Spags wrote that article in Dec of last year. Easy to write that article when Parsons was proven to be a stud. Micky is still a tool. Always has been.

 

[Mannix]

-------"There is a good chance this will be some advancement of his evolution ultimately as our left tackle," Jones said.

You bet. My exact thoughts. And why not.

Hahahahaha...HILARIOUS....of course those are your exact thoughts Mickey. Because you JUST HEARD THEM COME OUT OF THE MOUTH OF YOUR BOSS!!! How anyone can read this bootlicker is honestly beyond belief to me....are people really that gullable???

 

[morasp]

Broadus said Jason Peters was the guy his gang of seven thought still had something left in the tank. They pretty much thought the rest of them were done.

 

[GMO415]

Dak came from the SEC and led the #1 team in the nation at the time. Tyler came from Tulsa and only played two years as a starter. Doubtful he's ready at LT

 

[rambo2]

Spags wrote that article in Dec of last year. Easy to write that article when Parsons was proven to be a stud. Micky is still a tool. Always has been.

No, I saw him recommend Parsons before the draft. I just stated what Micky said and he was correct.

 

[Rayman70]

No, I saw him recommend Parsons before the draft. I just stated what Micky said and he was correct.

even a blind squirrel gets a nut at times

 

[VaqueroTD]

I just hope Tyler is mentally tough enough to handle it. He’s going to be bad at first, especially because they’ve been playing him as left guard this whole time.

 

[john van brocklin]

ARLINGTON, Texas – On April 30, 2016, the Dallas Cowboys drafted Dak Prescott, claiming they wanted to develop a backup quarterback to Tony Romo, and who knows, maybe the guy becomes their franchise quarterback of the future.

After all, Romo had just turned 36, and the Cowboys had grown tired of hopscotching over veteran after veteran after veteran for a backup. Their second fourth round pick that year, the eighth quarterback taken in the draft, was seen as the future.

Well, on Aug. 25, 2016, nearly six years ago to the day Wednesday when Pro Bowl offensive tackle Tyron Smith suffered a torn hamstring tendon at the back part of the knee, Romo was sacked from behind by Cliff Avril on the third play of that preseason game in Seattle, suffering what became known as a compression fracture to the vertebra. He would be out for months.

Dak would enter the game, third down, and completed a 12-yard pass to Cole Beasley for a first down. The rookie would finish the game completing 17 of 23 passes for 116 yards and one touchdown.

Unplanned, unexpected, that Cowboys quarterback future had arrived, Prescott, turning into the singular "Dak" known countrywide, leading the Cowboys to a 13-3 record his rookie season and ushering Romo into retirement.

Well, one day shy of exactly six years later, on Aug. 24, 2022, Smith, the Cowboys Pro Bowl left tackle, suffered this unusual injury to a football player. He is expected to miss at least three months after successful surgery on Friday performed by Cowboys orthopedic specialist Dr. Dan Cooper, and my gosh, what now are the Cowboys to do. Suggestions from the uninitiated have come flowing in: Sign this old veteran 31 other teams have so far turned up their noses on. Hurry, trade for that guy. Get this one to unretire. Maybe move one of the starters on the right side at guard or tackle to the left.

So, Friday night, on our Countdown To Kickoff pregame show prior to the Cowboys playing their third and final preseason game against the Seahawks, a 27-26 victory mostly thanks to five takeaways, I asked Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, "How do you approach it going forward to fill that left tackle spot?"

Without any hesitation, Jones said, "Well, we drafted it."

He meant one Tyler Smith, the Cowboys 2022 first round draft choice, the 24th pick overall.

"There is a good chance this will be some advancement of his evolution ultimately as our left tackle," Jones said.


You bet. My exact thoughts. And why not.

All this talk about Tyler Smith initially starting off at left guard and eventually in the future transitioning to left tacklewhen Tyron's days are numbered, the position he has played since high school, sounded great. Kind of ease his way into the NFL before filling in Tyron's cleats.

But you know what. That future has just arrived. It's now.

Get in there, big guy.

Sometimes the best laid plans get shuttered. Sort of like saving for the future and then one 100-degree laced summer causes the purchase of all three air conditioning units at the house.

Now this isn't suggesting the Cowboys once again will catch lightning in a rookie bottle the way they did with Dak taking over for Romo. I mean, who knew back then the eighth of 15 quarterbacks drafted in 2016 would be the only one still playing for the team drafting him. That's Dak, the exception to this group that includes the two quarterbacks selected with the first two picks in the draft, Jared Goff going No. 1 to the Rams and Carson Wentz No. 2 to the Eagles.

But think about this. Had Romo not suffered that injury, Dak Prescott might never have become just Dak. That opportunity might never have come around while the Cowboys were waiting for the future to arrive, especially since Romo claimed he wanted to play until he was 40.

Sometimes, you just never know.

But have the feeling, while the Cowboys seem to be dancing around what they know is the right thing to do, that Tyler Smith is their guy. Look, there is a reason these aging veteran free-agent tackles are still free agents. They are asking for an arm and a leg, er, whatever salary cap space you might have left.

Then there is this notion of trading for a starting capable left tackle, like going down to the Texaco to pluck one off the shelve. Who the heck has like four quality tackles when most teams are lucky to have at least two, let alone a capable third swing tackle.


And these young guys the Cowboys have, Josh Ball and Matt Waletzko. Well, there is a reason Ball went in last year's fourth round and Waletzko went in this year's fifth round.Neither has yet to take a real NFL snap.

Come on, the Cowboys thought Smith worthy of a first-round pick. They had to see something there. And while they had Tyler Smith planning to bide his time at left guard, that never was going to be his final landing spot. Remember they did the same thing with Flozell Adams, starting him off at guard while knowing he would eventually be a starting tackle. Same with Solomon Page. And for more current history, same with La'el Collins, guard then tackle.

Well, if healthy – Tyler Smith has been nursing a sprained ankle this entire week, missing both practices and Saturday night's preseason finale – time to go with the rookie at tackle.

And as for the quick transition from guard to tackle, Tyler told me Thursday night on the Blue Carpet prior to the Cowboys 2022 Season Kickoff event, "I've played the position my whole life, but have just been playing guard."

Yep, a tackle in guard's clothing.

"He's had an outstanding camp for a rookie," Jones said, "but he's got the skills. I'm not sure how we'll end up with this adjustment at this time, but that's why we made him (our) No. 1 pick in the draft.

"We were on the money addressing it right there."

Look, most teams drafting an offensive tackle in the first round do so for need. Those guys must start immediately and go through the growing pains. The Cowboys felt they had a year or two cushion with Tyron Smith still playing at a high left despite the recent rash of injuries. Well, the cushion is gone.

They also know if Tyler Smith is their starting left tackle and now Connor McGovern their starting left guard, withTerence Steele becoming the fulltime starting right tackle, they can't simply run the same offense they have for the past two years. They must successfully run the football, making play action dynamic And then throw a steady diet of slants, screens, quick outs. Jet sweeps, too And the Cowboys must count on their defense to help win games, those 30-burger games might be somewhat of the past for a while.

Plus, now in my mind, the backup swing tackle on a long-term basis all along would be Tyler Smith, even if he was playing guard. But if he's the starter, now that backup swing tackle must be found. Could it be Ball? Waletzko? Maybe. Or maybe that becomes the role of an experienced, free-agent tackle if the Cowboys take that route.


"I mean seven (seasons) ago I was in a similar position," Dak recently said, referring back to when Tony Romo injured his back in preseason, "so being the optimistic man I am, just having a lot of hope in the next man standing and understanding (it's) my responsibility in getting that guy ready, whoever it may be, to do the best job he can and help this team win whatever it may be."

Take it from Dak, there is no time like now when it comes to the future.

Spagnola: The Future Is Now At Left Tackle (dallascowboys.com)

Dak is going to be running for his life this season.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Spags is a front office mouthpiece. This article is basically the Jones boys signaling to us fans to get ready for Smith at LT.

Ding ding ding

 

[Sydla]

Broadus said Jason Peters was the guy his gang of seven thought still had something left in the tank. They pretty much thought the rest of them were done.

Peters is done. I saw him in Philly.

If Broaddus thinks Peters has something left in the tank but a guy like Fisher is "done" then LOL.

 

[Sydla]

Yes, I remember last year when he was recommending that we draft Parsons. He was saying that he was a Lawrence Taylor type player coming out of college.

Great, he sometimes gets things right.

But that doesn't change the fact he's a mouthpiece for the Jones' and the Cowboys, more often than not coming up with articles to justify why the Cowboys did what they did. One is very naive if they can't see this.

Spags is no different than most other "reporters" that work for the team. Up here in Philly, the Eagles have Dave Spadaro. He's just like Spags........ mouthpiece for the team.

 

[Sydla]

Here's the issue with just throwing Smith out there at LT with only two weeks of prep (and when's he going to start practicing, as he apparently has an ankle injury). LT is one of the most important positions on the team, one that can derail a team's success.

As someone noted above, Aikman was thrown to the wolves. But Aikman was thrown to the wolves on a team that everyone knew wasn't built to win at that point. They were all building up to something. This current team isn't trying to build something for 3-4 years from now. They are built to win right now. They are eating up close to 20% of their cap on a TB and a QB. That's not a team building for years down the line, that's a team structure to win right now.

If Smith really struggles at LT, it could derail this season. Then what? I think they are taking a massive risk here. Granted, since they won't go outside the franchise it appears, Smith be the least worst of bad options.

 

[Runwildboys]

Well, I hope you are right. However if our 40 million dollar QB gets knocked out for the season because of Cowboys not having a solid plan B ar LT there will be a team mutiny.

If Dak gets knocked out of the lineup, we can get our pick of LTs (or whoever) in the next draft.

 

[RonWashington]

I can't disagree more with Mickey. He is toeing the company line as per usual. Even Mike Fisher agree's with me. We need a bridge LT just for 1 year. SIGN A VET LIKE Peters and its solved. Tyler's power is needed at guard. My idea just makes 2 much sense. Why risk Dak?

When you say a “ bridge “ tackle then you agree with me . Draft a LT in 23 preferably round 1 ?