The latest news surrounding the Cowboys after night one of the NFL draft.
Tyler Guyton to Cowboys as 1st-Round Pick – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
The Dallas Cowboys found their replacement for LT Tyron Smith by selecting OT Tyler Guyton with the 29th-overall pick.
With the 29th-overall pick, the Cowboys selected the former Sooner after striking a trade deal that sent the 24th-overall pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for the 73rd-overall pick (third-round) and a 2025 seventh-round pick.
Round 1, Tyler Guyton: OT, Oklahoma
Three things to know:
Started his career at TCU, where he played tight end/H-back.
Honorable-mention All-Big 12 selection in 2023. Started 14 games at Oklahoma, 13 at right tackle and 1 at left tackle.
Played at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
Guyton heads to Dallas having spent time at TCU before transferring to Oklahoma, a Texas native who will return to his home state in 2024. In all, he’s played in 29 games in his collegiate career, so there’s plenty of experience in his game, and he has the flexibility to play either right or left tackle — the latter being what the Cowboys are looking for in him.
Earning an honorable All-Big 12 mention in 2023, the 6-foot-8, 322 lb. lineman allowed zero sacks in 355 snaps as a pass blocker last season, and that’s nothing to sneeze at when considering the void created by the loss of future Hall of Fame left tackle Tyron Smith on Dak Prescott’s blindside.
Cowboys trade down, get Tyler Guyton at No. 29 in NFL draft – Todd Archer, ESPN
Dallas may have missed out on their preferred pick, Graham Barton, by trading down from 24th to 29th, but they were still able to fill an open position by selecting Tyler Guyton.
The Cowboys had a chance to select Duke center Graham Barton but opted to trade down, giving up the 24th overall pick and a 2025 seventh-round selection in exchange for the Lions’ first- and third-round picks this year (Nos. 29 and 73).
They hope the trade works out as well as the last time they moved down in the draft. In 2021, the Cowboys went from No. 10 to No. 12 overall in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles and took edge rusher Micah Parsons, who has recorded 40.5 sacks and finished second (twice) and third in the Defensive Player of the Year award in his first three seasons.
The Eagles selected wide receiver DeVonta Smith with the Cowboys’ pick that year.
While Barton would have filled a need at center, Guyton fills a need with the departure of left tackle Tyron Smith in free agency to the New York Jets. He started only 15 games at Oklahoma with 13 coming at right tackle, but he did protect the blindside of left-handed quarterback Dillon Gabriel last year.
Cowboys NFL Draft grades 2024: Why Dallas taking OT Tyler Guyton was a smart move for the Super Bowl contender – Garrett Podell, CBS Sports
Picking Tyler Guyton at pick 29 looks to be a very smart move from the Cowboys as it addressed a glaring need at OT heading into the draft.
Now that the Cowboys selected Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton, an offensive tackle who didn’t allow a sack on 335 pass-blocking snaps in 2023, Smith remains at left guard. Guyton, who stands at 6-foot-8 while weighing 322 pounds, possesses plenty of athletic gifts. His 34 1/8-inch arms and 82 1/4-inch wingspan that he measured at the NFL Scouting Combine are ideal attributes for an NFL offensive tackle. Guyton was CBS Sports’ seventh-ranked offensive tackle and 36th-ranked overall player in this draft.
Guyton is quick on his feet and well-balanced in pass protection. The top element of his game is how he uses his hands like a boxer, striking and counter-punching oncoming pass rushers. He also has fluidity with his hips, which allows him to bend and recover well in pass protection. Guyton could improve his efficiency with his hands, and his leverage could improve if he cut down on the amount of snaps in which he stood up too upright. Thirteen of his 15 college starts came at right tackle, so Dallas will need to work on him a lot about transitioning to left tackle. However, Guyton was a blindside protector as a Sooner as Oklahoma’s 2023 starting quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, was left-handed.
Ultimately, Dallas gets what it wanted: an athletic tackle it can replace Tyron Smith with, and Tyler Smith gets to remain at left guard where he and McCarthy feel he can play his best. Mission accomplished, even with the trade back.
Cowboys show interest in possible Zeke reunion – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
Is it possible to see Ezekiel Elliott back in a Dallas Cowboys uniform in 2024?
Elliott’s representatives formally met with the Cowboys at the team’s headquarters on Wednesday — a little more than 24 hours from the start of this year’s draft in Detroit.
Granted, the Cowboys recently signed Royce Freeman in the weeks that followed the departure of Tony Pollard to the Tennessee Titans in free agency, but there was no sense that the addition of Freeman would preclude the Cowboys from being in the market to likely add yet another veteran at the position after the draft.
There was, is and will continue to be a very real possibility that it’s Elliott, despite the re-signing of Rico Dowdle this spring to a one-year deal.
In speaking with executive vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones following the televised pre-draft press conference on Tuesday, it was clear the door was not shut at running back.
Cowboys’ salary-cap concerns could mean they need more from undrafted free agency – Jon Machota, The Athletic
While the Cowboys many holes to fill for the 2024 roster and only so many draft picks, they may need to rely heavily on the players they add once the draft is over.
Counting on several “no-names” to become significant contributors is wishful thinking. But for a team that has done the least amount of any NFL franchise this offseason, there really isn’t much of a choice. Young players are likely going to have to fill in important gaps in the offensive and defensive lines as well as at linebacker and running back.
Can all of those areas be adequately addressed with their draft picks? Probably not. And that means Saturday might end up being the most important day of the three-day draft process. As the draft winds down, teams will begin reaching out to players who could go undrafted. The Cowboys have had more than their share of success in undrafted rookie free agency.
Some of the top undrafted free-agent players they’ve acquired in franchise history include Drew Pearson, Cliff Harris, Cornell Green, Everson Walls and Mark Tuinei. More recently, the list includes Tony Romo, Miles Austin, Cole Beasley, Ron Leary, La’el Collins, Dan Bailey and Barry Church. Some of the most notable on the current roster are right tackle Terence Steele, tight end Peyton Hendershot, safety Markquese Bell, safety Juanyeh Thomas, offensive lineman T.J. Bass, quarterback Cooper Rush, running back Rico Dowdle, fullback Hunter Luepke, running back Malik Davis and tight end John Stephens Jr.
“We’ve stressed the after-the-draft for many years now,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “And that will never go away. You find the Terence Steeles of the world, and it makes you want to continue to focus on it. We’ve got a system that we like. But I would say we’ve always heavily stressed the college free agency, and I think it has paid off for us.”
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