Speaking to reporters on Thursday for the first time since the NFL Draft, Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer covered everything from roster battles to offseason absences, including the outlook of Tyler Guyton, who is approaching a massive third year after an underwhelming start to his career.
Confirming what he hinted at following the draft, Schottenheimer announced that Guyton and Nate Thomas are going to compete for the starting left tackle position.
While Schottenheimer has liked what he's seen from Guyton, he said the team wants to "make Tyler earn it." That's undoubtedly the right call given what Guyton has -- and hasn't -- put on film in his first two seasons.
The Dallas Cowboys are going to make Tyler Guyton win the LT job
Guyton may be the overwhelming favorite to win the competition, but that doesn't matter. The Cowboys needed to light a fire under the former first-round pick.
Injuries have played a role in Guyton's slow-moving development, as he's played 25 of a possible 34 regular-season games since entering the league in 2024. That does not include missing nearly all of last year's training camp with a knee injury.
Even when healthy, though, Guyton's been far too inconsistent to be trusted to protect Dak Prescott's blindside in a full-time capacity.
The Oklahoma product has been flagged a whopping 25 times in as many games, 21 of which were accepted by the opposition, per Pro Football Focus premium stats. A lot of those penalties derailed promising drives, often forcing the offense to settle for a field goal or knocking it out of Brandon Aubrey's range altogether.
The Cowboys could live with Guyton's penalties if he were a fortress in pass protection. That has not been the case.
Despite playing only 10 games last season, Guyton's six quarterback hits allowed were the 14th-most out of 56 qualified tackles, and he finished 44th with a 95.7 percent pass-blocking efficiency, which measures pressure allowed on a per-snap basis, penalizing sacks more heavily than hurries or QB hits.
Bake the penalties into his evaluation, and you get a below-average (at best) left tackle. That is not what Dallas envisioned when it took him No. 29 overall two years ago.
The good news is that Guyton has all the tools to become a player the Cowboys trust, and all signs suggest he's motivated to prove his doubters wrong. Hopefully, it all clicks because his margin for error just disappeared.
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