McCarthy: Cowboys to keep Tyler Smith at guard ‘right now’; Mazi Smith, Luke Schoonmaker had shoulder surgery

According to Mike McCarthy the plan is to keep Tyler Smith at guard right now.

NFL dignitaries are gathered in Orlando for annual meetings that provide ample opportunity for the Dallas Cowboys brain trust to sit behind microphones and in front of cameras. Jerry Jones spoke earlier in the week and offered up some thoughts on the team’s run defense as well as Tyler Smith’s future position. On Tuesday morning Mike McCarthy spoke and when he did he shed some light on a couple of important topics.

Tyler Smith will stay at guard right now as the team sees how things unfold

Ever since Tyron Smith left in free agency, many have been wondering who would succeed him as Dak Prescott’s blindside protector. The natural assumption has been that third-year man Tyler Smith will fill the void given that he played the position as a rookie, and that is exactly what Jerry Jones hinted at in his talk with the press. But Tyler was exemplary as a guard last year and there is an argument for keeping him there, which McCarthy made.

We have about a month to go until the 2024 NFL Draft which could bring a tackle for the Cowboys (many predict that it will). Even if Dallas does draft a tackle in the first round, asking them to play left tackle as a rookie is not as easy of a thing as Tyler Smith made it look two years ago.

Earlier in the week when Jerry Jones spoke he talked about Smith as an option at tackle too so overall the team has discussed all options recently.

McCarthy also spoke about last year’s first-round pick. Mazi Smith. The rookie’s play was disappointing and he now has an enormous amount of pressure on his shoulders with Johnathan Hankins leaving for the Seattle Seahawks. McCarthy mentioned that both Smith and Luke Schoonmaker had offseason shoulder surgery and also made it seem like the team wants to bulk him up in the weight department.

The state of the run defense really does depend on Mazi Smith making a significant jump in year two. Hopefully he is up to the challenge.

Luke Schoonmaker will also be coming off of a shoulder surgery in 2024 as well. That means every top 100 pick that Dallas made last year will be coming back from some sort of ailment.