When things start to break down, it’s good to get in there and fix it right up. The Cowboys are trying.
It might be hard to believe, but just a couple of years ago fans of the Dallas Cowboys were feeling really good about the state of the offensive line.
Three of their lineman were coming off of Pro Bowl seasons, Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, and Travis Frederick (who returned in 2019 after missing the previous year dealing with Guillain-Barre syndrome).
La’el Collins was coming off his best season as a pro and many suspected Pro Bowl appearances were in his future. And their weakest link, Connor Williams. was still young and showed a lot of potential.
That was following the 2019 season. A lot has happened since then. To kick things off, Frederick retired prior to the 2020 season.
Tyron Smith’s ability to stay healthy went from bad to worse as he missed more games than he played over the next two seasons, and he is once again expected to miss the better part of the season this year.
La’el Collins missed the entire 2020 season and part of last year due to injury/suspension.
The team just flat-out released him this past offseason. And the team’s weakest link, Connor Williams, stayed the weakest link as he led all players in penalties last year. The Cowboys let him walk in free agency this past offseason.
With so many bad things happening, it would be easy to believe that the Cowboys' offensive line has fallen on hard times. And to be honest, there have been some bumpity bumps in the road over the past two seasons.
That said, the state of the Cowboys' offensive line is actually pretty good right now and continues to trend up. Why is that?
Well, that’s because the organization has continued to draft and develop players and has completely remodeled its offensive line.
It’s quite impressive actually, so we wanted to run this thing back and see how the Cowboys have gotten to this point.
Trade up for Tyler Biadasz The loss of Frederick was unexpected and put the Cowboys in a tough spot. They again turned to the veteran Joe Looney as the “last resort” starter, but many thought the Cowboys would invest a premium draft pick in one of the nation’s top collegiate centers, like say Michigan’s, Cesar Ruiz.
The undrafted gift Despite going undrafted in 2020, Terence Steele has gotten the royal treatment in playing time. Thrown right to the wolves, Steele started 14 games at right tackle his rookie season with Collins lost for the year.
The undrafted gift Even with Collins back last year, Steele wasn’t so willing to give up his spot and started another 13 games.
The undrafted gift The team made the decision to move on from Collins and roll with Steele this offseason, and despite being met with a lot of consternation from fans, it’s turned out to be one of the front office’s better moves.
The undrafted gift Steele has emerged as one of the top right tackles in the league. Man, what a weird thing to say.We all expected to see the rookie Tyler Smith at left guard this season, but a training camp injury to Tyron Smith squashed that.
The seventh-rounder nobody cares about So we were stuck with Connor McGovern at LG, that is until Tyler Smith flattened his defender into McGovern’s leg in Week 1. And just like that, second-year guard Matt Farniok is the team’s new starting left guard.
The first-round “reach” When the Cowboys selected Tulsa tackle Tyler Smith with their 24th overall pick, many fans were upset. This youngster was extremely raw and while his future may have been bright, did it warrant using such high draft capital to get him?
The first-round “reach” Even Jerry Jones felt backed into a corner defending the pick; he felt compelled to show the world his team’s rankings by flashing their draft sheet at a press conference.