Cowboys 2024 rookie report card: Progress report for each pick at the bye week

Round 1, Pick 29: LT Tyler Guyton

Draft day expectations: The selection of Tyler Guyton wasn’t met much fanfare or praise, but it involved a trade back that garnered and extra top 100 pick and addressed a direct need in the process. Guyton was seen as a developmental prospect who was both high risk and high reward.

Guyton’s film left something to be desired. The Oklahoma RT was sloppy and unrefined. Based on that alone he looked like an NFL longshot. But projections are about unrealized potential as much as realized ability. The 6-foot-7, 322-pound OT had size, length and athletic ability that can’t be taught. It seemed if the Cowboys would be patient, and Guyton put in the work, he might one day develop into a franchise LT for the Cowboys.

Bye week review: Up until Week 6, Tyler Guyton has been serving as the Dallas Cowboys starting left tackle. Mike McCarthy had made a concentrated effort to protect the 23-year-old rookie by moving extra blockers in his direction and rolling Dak Prescott to the opposite side as much as possible.

Even with the help Guyton has struggled in many of the same ways he did in college. Despite only playing in five games this season, he’s given up 13 pressures and four sacks. PFF graded Guyton 70th of 76 OTs in 2024. It’s not surprising he was effectively benched in Week 6.

Adjusted expectations: Guyton was always a questionable pick and an enormous gamble for Dallas to make so his expectations don’t really change much. Assuming he gets back on the field this season and continues his “development,” Guyton should be on pace as the long-term project player he was drafted to be. If Dallas doesn’t force him back on the field his development likely stalls.