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Dallas Cowboys: Four strategies to deal with Travis Frederick’s retirement

By Matt Aaron

SANTA CLARA, CA - AUGUST 23: Center Travis Frederick #72 of the Dallas Cowboys calls out the defense against the San Francisco 49ers in the first quarter during a preseason game on August 23, 2015 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The 49ers won 23-6. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - AUGUST 23: Center Travis Frederick #72 of the Dallas Cowboys calls out the defense against the San Francisco 49ers in the first quarter during a preseason game on August 23, 2015 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The 49ers won 23-6. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Travis Frederick, Dallas Cowboys
Travis Frederick, Dallas Cowboys (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Perennial Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick’s sudden retirement creates a dilemma for the Cowboys at offensive line. What will they do?

Monday night, in an unexpected and shocking move, Dallas Cowboys center Travis Frederick announced his retirement by posting a letter on Twitter. The statement explained his reasons and thanked the fans and organization for all their support over the years.

Frederick’s decision mostly came down to him feeling he would never get back to his pre-Guillain-Barre great level of play. He just didn’t want to continue to play at a diminished level.

Many fans, after seeing Frederick get sick with the illness and miss the season in 2018, then come back and make the Pro Bowl in 2019, were looking forward to several more years of excellent performance from the perennial Pro Bowl center. Sadly, that’s not going to happen now.

So, how can Dallas replace such a great player? It seems to me there are four different strategies to deal with this issue, but before I give them, I should explain that I am just as concerned about left guard as I am about center.

For the last few years, Connor Williams has been pushed around a lot at guard for Dallas. After his first season, when he was mauled on a consistent basis, Williams spent a lot of time bulking up in the weight room. Though it did help somewhat, the left guard was still outmuscled at times last year.

Many thought the team was better off with backup guard Xavier Su’a-Filo starting in his place after Williams tore his ACL in week 13 last year. But Su’a-Filo was a free agent this offseason and was signed last week by the Cincinnati Bengals.

So, I, and I’m sure many Cowboys observers, were looking forward to a competition this year between Williams, and second-year center/guard Connor McGovern, a third-round pick in the 2019 draft. McGovern was out injured all last season with a torn pectoral muscle.

If Dallas simply moves Connor McGovern over to center, then what happens at left guard? Does the team just roll on with Williams, or do they make another move? That’s the dilemma.

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