With the first round selection of guard Tyler Booker in last week’s draft, along with Ajani Cornelius in the sixth round, the Dallas Cowboys have 15 players on the offensive line on the roster.
Unless the game plan is to start eight of them along with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and a running back, that number must come down.
Which begs the question: How many of these 15 will make the final roster? Of those that don’t, how many hit the practice squad?
How many get cut outright?
The Cowboys off-season OTAs and training camp are going to be a game of Survivor for the offensive line.
These are this season’s 15 offensive linemen/contestants currently listed on the Dallas Cowboys roster:
- LT Tyler Guyton / Asim Richards / Hakeem Adeniji / Nathan Thomas
- LG Tyler Smith / Robert Jones / Saahdiq Charles
- C Cooper Beebe / Brock Hoffman / Dakoda Shepley
- RG Tyler Booker / T.J. Bass
- RT Terence Steele / Ajani Cornelius / Matt Waletzko
Right now it would appear that the three Tyler’s are locked in as starters. The same is likely of Cooper Beebe and Terence Steele.
Unless the plan is to shift Guyton to right tackle, Tyler Smith to left tackle and have Brock Hoffman play at guard instead.
Frankly, given Steele’s performance last year, as well as Guyton’s at left tackle, that might be the better move.
So there seems to be the safe six. Among the remaining nine, who should be the most concerned?
Battle Of The Offensive Line Backups
T.J. Bass, arriving in Dallas as an undrafted free agent, was a solid performer when called on. As was Asim Richards.
Cornelius is probably safe, as should be veteran Robert Jones, signed in free agency earlier this year.
That leaves five players on the outside looking in.
Their best hope, if this holds true, is to land on the practice squad.
Otherwise, they will be looking for jobs somewhere else sometime in August. That’s the one thing few NFL players want to be doing during that month of the year.
Nathan Thomas and Dakoda Shepley are probably certain training camp cuts.
Hakeem Adeniji spent three years with the Bengals, the 2023 season in Minnesota and was injured last year in Cleveland and did not play.
He could push his way to the 53-man roster, but should be no worse than a practice squad player as insurance against injury.
Saahdiq Charles, much like Adeniji, has been in the NFL for four seasons, all of them with Washington. He did get 31 starts over those four seasons.
His experience alone could push Bass or Cornelius to the practice squad, or even move Jones out of the building altogether.
The wildcard in the group is Matt Waletzko. He’s been good enough to hang around, but not good enough to play a significant number of snaps either.
This season may be his make-or-break season in Dallas.
How We Got Here
This pile-up of wide bodies in 2025 has its origins in the 2023 NFL Draft. Needing to shore up its offensive line that year, the Cowboys twice passed on Florida guard O’Cyrus Torrence.
He went to Buffalo and helped lead the Bills to back-to-back divisional titles and a conference championship game appearance.
Dallas picked defensive tackle Mazi Smith and tight end Luke Schoonmaker instead. Neither of them have exactly set the league on fire.
The following year’s draft, the Cowboys took right tackle Tyler Guyton from Oklahoma and promptly moved him to left tackle.
He did not set the league on fire with his play either, while starting in 11 of the 17 games.
The reasoning that he played on his quarterback’s blind side in Oklahoma, on the right, so he would do just as well on Dak Prescott’s blind side, the left, has been proven faulty.
It also forced the Cowboys to address the line again, this time with two picks in the 2025 draft. This comes at the expense of properly addressing other areas of need on the roster.
Hopefully, the addition of Booker, a possible move of Guyton back to his natural right side, and the development of some of the other linemen, will solidify the line.
Dallas needs a strong line, not only to keep Prescott healthy and in for the entire season, but for the running game. If the run is going to become more prominent, it will begin with these 15 players.
