Dallas Cowboys: How will the offensive line perform in the season opener?

Right Tackle

There have been concerns about starting tackle La’el Collins all through training camp. He’d been held out of practice through most of camp, with reports alternating between conditioning concerns and an actual injury.

But most observers thought it was a mild issue, that the excellent right tackle would be fine by this Sunday. But obviously, Collins isn’t fine. Instead, he’s on injured reserve with some sort of hip problem through (at least) the first three games, according to Mike Fisher at Sports Illustrated.

As the old saying goes, you can’t replace a player of Collins’s caliber. One of the best offensive tackles in the league, he’s been mentioned as a possible Pro Bowler this year. (That’s probably out now.) But while he can’t be replaced, there are three candidates to fill in for him: Cameron Erving, Brandon Knight, and Terrance Steel.

Erving or Knight are the more likely candidates to start this Sunday night. Erving is a veteran free agent who was signed this offseason, and has started 42 games over his career with the Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Knight was a UDFA who made the Dallas roster last year, and started one game, notably in place of a briefly injured La’el Collins. Normally with his much higher level of experience, I’d predict Erving would absolutely get the nod. But I saw the game Knight started last year, and he was pretty solid. Plus, Erving did get cut for some reason by the Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

So, who knows? My bet is they’re both getting reps this week in practice and the one who performs better will get the job on Sunday. Steele is a recent free agent hire, and likely there just in case.