When the Dallas Cowboys named Brian Schottenheimer their 10th head coach earlier this year, roster-wide changes were all but assured.
And nowhere will those changes be more apparent than on the offensive line. That’s not even taking into account the retirement of Zack Martin either.
The Cowboys drafted Tyler Booker in the first round back in April to take Martin’s spot,
However, that may not be the only change coming for this room in 2025.
Could There Be 2 New Tackles?
Neither Terence Steele nor Tyler Guyton set the NFL on fire last year.
At right tackle, Steele at times struggled in pass protection. He has yet to fully return to pre-injury form after the Cowboys rewarded him with a huge contract.
On the opposite side of Steele, Guyton’s rookie season was less than stellar.
He missed two games and did not start in four of the 15 that he did play in last year.
He also had several penalties, some in key moments. His pass protection was less than spot-on too.
In his defense, he was a right tackle in college, having never played on the left side until Dallas moved him there to replace Tyron Smith.
And there lies a clue about how the offensive line might look this fall.
Shuffling The Deck
Guyton could be moved to the right tackle spot. In fact, it might be the best thing for him to get back to his natural position.
Steele would be relegated to spot duty as a backup. Dallas has a path to get out of Steele’s contract next year to reduce their hit on the cap.
That would move Tyler Smith from left guard to left tackle. Booker could move into the left guard spot and either Brock Hoffman or Rob Jones could move into the right guard slot.
Hoffman was a beast at the end of last year after Martin went down and he has a legitimate chance to start at guard. He might even push Cooper Beebe for the starting center position too.
The other option would be to bench both Guyton and Steele, with this spring’s sixth-round pick, Ajani Cornelius, taking the right tackle spot.
It seems unlikely Dallas would abandon Guyton this quickly.
But Schottenheimer has insisted that the Cowboys will start the “best five players” on the line, regardless of where they were drafted or how much they make. If he holds to that, changes will be made.
Divisional Ranking
With that uncertainty, it’s hard to specifically pinpoint where the Cowboys offensive line ranks against the rest of the division.
For now, the Eagles appear to be the top line in the NFC East. Depending on how they come together, Dallas’ line could move past them.
But for now, they appear to be ahead of the Commanders at least.
The Giants remain a distant fourth.
First of all, Schottenheimer is the Dallas Cowboys HC 10th.
I agree with Guyton at RT, this is my proposal of OL according with their “experience” at College:
LT 73. Smith
LG 62. Booker
C 67. Hoffman
RG 56. Beebe
RT 60. Guyton
I doubt that Clayton wanted so many changes in his line
I suppose I could try to argue that Jerry Jones has been a de facto HC ever since he ran off Jimmy, but that really was a typo on my part. Good catch and I’ve corrected the post.
And I like your proposed OL too.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Jerry didn’t run Jimmy off, they mutually agreed to part ways!! And even if they didn’t, Jimmy was planning on leaving anyways!! He said plenty of times that he don’t like to stay at one place for too long, and he already had it marked in his calendar when he was gonna leave!! He just ended up leaving a couple months earlier than he planned!! So no matter what, Jimmy wasn’t gonna be our head coach the next year!!
You absolutely HAVE to be Stephen Jones…
I’ve been saying this since after the draft.
Put the best 5 offensive linemen on the field at their natural positions.
LT Tyler Smith
LG Tyler Booker
C Brock Hoffman
RG Cooper Beebe
RT Tyler Guyton
I don’t agree with the people saying to move Tyler Smith to left tackle!! That would be stupid!! He’s an all pro player at left guard right now, so why mess that up!? It don’t make any sense!! I guess it is possible that he could be just as good at left tackle, but why take the chance!? Leave him where he is and work out the rest of the line!! Plus Smith has already said that he would rather stay at guard cause he’s more comfortable there, so just leave him there!! And Beebe was really good at center last year and he was a rookie playing the position for the first time ever, so I think he needs to stay there too so he can have continuity!! And Booker is gonna be a beast no matter where we put him, so I don’t think it matters if he’s at left guard or right guard, he’ll be just as good at either one!! But I do agree with switching Tyler Guyton from left to right tackle, I think he’ll be a lot better playing in his natural position!! And that just leaves left tackle open and I personally think that Asim Richards will be a really good option there!! He played really well in the opportunities he got last year!! But I think continuity is important, players staying where they’ve been playing, as long as they were good!! So players like Tyler Smith and Cooper Beebe don’t need to be moved, and since Smith is already at left guard, we put Booker at right guard, and that just leaves 2 spots to have players moved around at, instead of shuffling the whole line!! That’s just how I think it should be!! So with that said, I would have my starting lineup look something like this:
LT. Asim Richards
LG. Tyler Smith
C. Cooper Beebe
RG. Tyler Booker
RT. Tyler Guyton
If somebody else shows they can be better than Richards then they can take his place, but in my opinion, this would be the better lineup!! Either way, I’m not moving Tyler Smith!!
Hoffman is a superior run blocker to Richards. If Dallas is going to lean more on the run, they need Hoffman in there, which is why moving Smith over, whether he likes it or not at the amount of money he’s making, makes more sense.