Well, the Dallas Cowboys didn’t want to see Tyler Guyton fail at left tackle, but they did make him earn his position this year.
I think that may have sent the biggest message to Guyton about where the Cowboys see him, and it seemed to light a fire under him.
Brian Schottenheimer planned to rotate Guyton and Nate Thomas at left tackle on the first-team offense. He wanted a legitimate competition for the spot, not just a hand out this season.
Well, that rotation didn’t last long.
Schottenheimer has already decided to keep Guyton with the starters, saying he has been playing “really, really well.” Thomas will still get opportunities, but he has a steep uphill battle to get back to first-team.
Schotty said Guyton will stay at starting LT. He mentioned he’s playing really well and they’re challenging Nate Thomas to take another step.
I love the quick turnaround by Tyler Guyton. Dallas drafted him in the first round because of his athleticism and size, knowing he needed to be developed. Going into year three, maybe he finally put it all together.
Consistency has been the issue, and that is why I thought Nate Thomas had a chance to take the left tackle position, but the script flipped on me.
Tyler Smith Has Seen the Work Firsthand
Our All-Pro left guard Tyler Smith has confidence in the guy lining up next to him.
I have the utmost confidence in Tyler. I mean, not everybody sees it, but we work together in the summer, we work in the off-season. The body of work he’s put forward, I feel like, is gonna pay dividends and people are gonna truly see who he is,”
Not everyone sees what goes on behind the scenes and Tyler Smith wants to win, so he knows who gives him the best opportunity next to him.
We’ve all seen Guyton struggle on several occasions. Penalties and consistency have been his kryptonite. We have all seen good snaps followed by chants to get this guy off the field.
We have also heard for two years about his potential with little glimpses on Sundays. Well, Tyler Smith has seen the part we haven’t. He has been working with Guyton all offseason and he believes people are going to see a different player.
I am very interested in seeing if he is right, because Dallas doesn’t need Guyton to become an All-Pro. It would be nice, but we just need consistent play at left tackle.
If Guyton can do that, it will keep Tyler Smith at left guard instead of Dallas having to shuffle the line and moving one of the best guards in the NFL to cover a problem on the outside.
That may be the most important part about Guyton winning the job.
Tyler Guyton Still Has to Prove It When It Counts
We can’t call the left tackle spot fixed just because Guyton won the competition. I want to see what happens to him when he gets beat in a game.
It happens to everyone, but my concern with Guyton is what happens after a mistake. Can he forget about the error and win the next rep, or does it snowball into an avalanche of mistakes?
That’s where we’ll find out how much has changed.
Tyler Guyton still deserves a little credit. Dallas didn’t just hand him the job this year. The team had competition ready and planned to split the first-team reps, but Guyton played well enough, or Nate Thomas played bad enough, that Schotty changed the plan.
Now comes the hard part.
Continuity.
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