After Travis Frederick was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre, an autoimmune disease that attacks the body's immune system, it looked as if the Dallas Cowboys 2018 season was over before it even got started. Fast-forward a year and there are still concerns about Frederick's health, but he's not the only one amongst the Cowboys offensive lineman we should be concerned about.
Unfortunately, Travis Frederick was just the beginning of what turned out to be a down season for just about every single one of the Dallas Cowboys starting offensive lineman. Only Joe Looney, an injury replacement for Frederick, and La'el Collins played more than 85% of the offensive snaps in 2018 because of injuries.
Here's the snap count for the Dallas Cowboys OL in 2018:
| POSITION | SNAP # | SNAP % |
|---|---|---|
| C, Travis Frederick | 0 | 0% |
| C, Joe Looney | 1076 | 100% |
| RT, La'el Collins | 1075 | 99.91% |
| RG, Zack Martin | 877 | 81.51% |
| LT, Tyron Smith | 849 | 78.90% |
| LG, Connor Williams | 688 | 63.94% |
| LG, Xavier Su'a-Filo | 494 | 45.91% |
| LT, Cameron Fleming | 232 | 21.56% |
| RG, Adam Redmond | 96 | 8.92% |
I don't want to jinx anything, but this really concerns me heading into the 2019 season. Getting this group healthy, and keeping them so, is without a doubt a key factor in determining the Cowboys success this season. That's one of the reasons why I wasn't completely shocked third-round pick Connor McGovern was added to the mix in this year's NFL Draft. He could become invaluable.
Depth-wise, the Dallas Cowboys are in pretty good shape all along their offensive line right now. In fact, it's one of the reasons outside parties have inquired about potentially working out a trade for one of the Cowboys OL, something that was shut down pretty quickly… at least for now. Dallas knows all too well how important backups can be when needed, evidenced by what took place the last few seasons.
We all would like to forget what happened when Chaz Green and he replaced Tyron Smith in the starting line up a couple of seasons ago. I hate to even bring it up again. But, it does serve as a good reminder as an example of what not to do. Joe Looney on the other hand was a godsend last year. I don't know if the Cowboys could have had the season they had without him playing as well as he did.
I don't know about you, but I'm just hoping all of the unfortunate injuries sustained by the Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman last year was just a fluke. With the exception of Tyron Smith, the rest of Dallas' OL have pretty much all been Ironmen since entering the league. Hopefully, they can all have a rebound season in 2019 because the organizations success could depend on it.
