I would like to believe we all knew Tyler Guyton was going to take some time to become the player we all envisioned.
That was part of the deal when the Dallas Cowboys drafted him in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The size and athletic ability have always been there, and you could see why Dallas believed in him to become the long-term answer at left tackle.
The only thing missing was technique and consistency.
His rookie season was a prime example of this, as there were good reps, ugly reps, and a field full of flags. Then came year 2, some things started getting cleaned up even though his pass protection was still terrible.
Now we are two games into Year 3, and I’m wondering if we’re watching Tyler Guyton put everything together right in front of us.
It’s funny because the numbers that jump out to me aren’t his pass or run blocking it is another area that he has been one of the worst in the league.
The penalties.
The Penalties are the Biggest Sign of Growth
We watched a rookie year marred with penalties and inconsistency, but the penalties were the biggest headache as he committed 18 of them that year.
It seemed like every time the offense did something right, we would see a yellow flag lying on the ground near the offensive line and we knew it was Guyton.
18 penalties is a brutal number for any offensive lineman, especially your starting left tackle. You can survive a bad rep now and then, you can survive pressure, but one thing a young offensive lineman can’t keep doing is wiping out good plays.
Dallas knew they were getting a raw player when they turned in the draft card. I think he was fighting himself as much as the guy lined up across from him.
Then he cut that number to seven penalties in 2025, a drop of more than 60%.
Through two games this season, he doesn’t have any.
I know it’s only two games, but the penalty improvement isn’t just a two-game story the cleanup started last season. We have been watching in real time as those mistakes have slowly disappeared from his game.
Tyler Guyton’s Pass Protection is Catching Up
Guyton’s overall pass-blocking grade isn’t going to blow anyone away.
He posted a 60.2 pass-blocking grade in 2024, and then dropped to 49.8 last season, and now we are seeing it at 61.9 through the first two games of 2026. If that is the only number you look at, I promise you’re not going to walk away impressed.
Then you dig a little deeper and his starts look better.
Tyler Guyton has made it through 72 pass-blocking opportunities. In those snaps, Guyton has allowed four pressures: three hurries, one hit, and zero sacks. His pass blocking efficiency is up to 97.2, compared with 96.0 as a rookie and 95.7 last season.
Just to break down pass blocking efficiency for you, it is a stat that is useful because raw pressure totals can be misleading.
Pass-blocking efficiency measures how often an offensive lineman keeps pressure away from their quarterback in comparison to their number of pass-blocking snaps. We want to be as close to 100 as we can.
So far, we have seen Tyler Guyton do a better job at this.
Tyler Guyton’s Run-Blocking is His Bread and Butter
This is the most noticeable improvement I have seen in Tyler Guyton’s game.
His run-blocking grade was 51.3 as a rookie, then climbed to 64.8 last season, and through two games this year he is sitting at 81.8. I know it’s just 35 run-blocking snaps and that’s not enough to put him in with the elite, but the sample size is important.
What I like is this didn’t come out of nowhere.
We have already seen him take steps in the right direction in this area last season. The early numbers in 2026 show us he is still trending up.
Tyler Guyton Just Looks Different
I’m sure Tyler Guyton is going to get beat this season, and he’ll probably get called for a penalty eventually. We all know those things will happen when you’re playing left tackle in the NFL every week.
But he isn’t making the same mistakes at the same rate anymore. He went from 18 penalties as a rookie to seven, and now zero so far.
The sacks have gone down, his efficiency is trending up, and the run blocking looks better than ever. None of this guarantees the Cowboys have their left tackle for the next decade, but Guyton looks comfortable this year.
Most importantly, we’re seeing more of a player Dallas thought it was drafting instead of just flashes of what he might become.
Maybe Tyler Guyton isn’t a project anymore and he’s becoming the Cowboys left tackle.
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