Cowboys suppose Tyler Smith might be ‘one of many greats’

FRISCO, Texas — Tyler Smith is now the next one.

With the retirements of Zack Martin and Tyron Smith during the offseason, it was clear Tyler Smith would become the heir to what those two carried forward with a combined 17 Pro Bowls on their Hall of Fame résumés.

When Tyler Smith on Saturday signed his four-year, $96 million extension that includes $81.2 million guaranteed, it cemented the feeling from the organization.

Maybe it was fitting that Tyron Smith was at Sunday’s home opener against the New York Giants and received loud applause from the fans for his 13 years of service with the Cowboys.

Dallas drafted Tyler Smith in the first round in 2021 to be Tyron Smith’s successor, but then Tyron suffered a hamstring tear that required surgery and forced Tyler to play left tackle.

“I feel like Tyler came in and set the standard that he wants to be great when he first got here, and he has,” Tyron Smith said in April. “Just increasing potential every year. And it’s just his work ethic and what he puts into this game and how dominant he is on the field. It just shows every year that he is getting better. He has potential to be one of the greats, and I just can’t wait to see that show.”

That Tyler Smith played left tackle with little practice time before the season opener spoke to his “uncommon traits,” according to Martin. When he moved to guard full time in 2023, Smith went to his first Pro Bowl and was selected second-team All-Pro.

“He was very dominant, and it was like, ‘OK, this guy’s going to be really good for a long time,'” Martin said in April.

In 2024, Tyler Smith became the third Cowboys offensive lineman to earn two Pro Bowl bids in his first three years, joining Martin, center Travis Frederick and Hall of Famer Larry Allen.

Allen and Tyler Smith share the No. 73 and strength. Maybe one day Tyler Smith also can join Allen — and perhaps Tyron Smith and Martin — in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But he is only 24, despite this being his fourth season. He is now signed through 2030.

“That’s a guy that is just the epitome of what an offensive lineman is supposed to be like. Coming in young, learn from some of those guys, play next to Tyron, learning a little bit from Zack, but he’s a special player,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “He’s a special player from the moment that he showed up here, his approach, his mentality, his love for the game. The way that he knows his history of the game, his history of offensive linemen, his standard for himself and his play is super, super high. So he’s very well-deserving of that money and everything, and more success is going to come.”

In the way that Tyron Smith, Martin, and even Jason Peters, the veteran who was his backup as a rookie, taught him, Tyler Smith wants to pass on the knowledge to his current linemates Tyler Booker, Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe.

He said Peters used to tell him he was “oozing” off the snap, which meant he wasn’t fast enough. In time, he got faster because he understood the “tiny details.”

“As much as I can, especially with the guys like Book, TG, Nate Thomas,” Tyler Smith said. “Anything they ask me, I try to pull from the knowledge that was given to me and give it to them. It’s not a secret. I think everybody should push each other to be as good as we can be in our room because that’s only going to make all of us better. The lessons they taught me from how to study guys, to tendencies to just the fundamentals that you have to harp on every day.”

When Smith signed his extension, he surprisingly didn’t feel overly emotional, despite the life-changing money. When coach Brian Schottenheimer called to congratulate him on signing, Smith said he was thinking only about beating the Giants, which happened, by the way, 40-37, in overtime.

“I know this is a big steppingstone, but ultimately, I still have a lot more work to do,” Smith said. “I still have a legacy that I want to lay down, and I still have to get better at football. I’m not even at where I think I can be at.”