If you haven’t noticed by now, the hits just won’t stop coming for the Dallas Cowboys on the offensive line.
left guard Tyler Smith came out of practice early on Thursday. Thank goodness this one was not anything major either.
Smith is dealing with tendinitis in his knee, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones told the Dallas Morning News.
Smith left practice with about 30 minutes remaining and told reporters he was fine as he walked down the sideline back to the team’s training camp setup.
No Room For Error
Look, after losing Robert Jones with a broken bone in his neck and Tyler Guyton expected to miss 4–6 weeks, the Cowboys had to go out and sign La’el Collins.
Collins played for the Cowboys for seven seasons, but he has not played in the NFL since 2022, when he was with the Bengals. He had a brief practice squad stint with the Cowboys in 2023 and was with the Bills in camp in 2024.
Collins has played 89 games with 86 starts in his career, seeing action at both tackle and guard, but at this point in his career should he be a guy that the Cowboys have any confidence in sending out there for at least a month to start?
I would say no.
Nate Thomas, a second-year player from Louisiana Tech, is getting the first look at replacing Guyton at left tackle. Thomas is 6-foot-4 and weighs 330 pounds, and that size carries over to the field.
Steele has been working his way back into practice since his high-ankle sprain forced him to miss a couple of days, so there is no telling how long it will be until he’s back with the first-team offense on a full-time basis.
Cooper Beebe is a guy that I still think highly of, and he is going to be needed big time this year to play at a high level.
Tyler Booker will hopefully need to have a Smith-type year in his rookie season, but we have to be honest. This offensive line does not have much more room for error at all.
Let’s see how the rest of this summer unfolds, but man, it feels like someone is going down with an injury every single week, and I just hope these stop at some point.
This offensive line is going to need to be good for the running game they have, and with Pickens and Lamb on the outside.
