Cowboys Resigned $70 Million Ex-Star player For 2024 Season On a Year Contract…

When the Dallas Cowboys drafted Tyler Smith 24th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft, we weren’t sure what position he would ultimately play. In general, the plan seemed to be he would be the eventual replacement for Tyron Smith who was getting up there in age and was struggling to stay on the field. With Tyron still around, the team wanted to slide him inside to left guard. Unfortunately, the Cowboys had to break the glass sooner than expected when Tyron got hurt before the season started. As a result, Tyler started all 17 games at left tackle that season.

The following season, Tyron was healthy so the team played Tyler at left guard. Both Smith’s played well with the youngster earning second-team All-Pro honors. It’s impressive that Tyler has already shown he can play well at either position. A 21-year-old protecting the blindside of their $160 million quarterback for a full season was quite impressive, but to follow it up with an All-Pro year his first season at left guard makes us wonder, is there anything this guy can’t do?

Tyron has departed in free agency and now is as good a time as any to put Tyler back at left tackle. However, there’s also some reluctance to move him from a spot where he has shown he can excel. Eventually, this position shuffle has got to stop. Will he move to left tackle or remain at left guard? Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently said what we should’ve guessed, that Tyler is a chess piece for this offense, and where he ends up playing remains up in the air.

Clarence Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram has also reported that Jones is treating Tyler as the ‘working option’ at left tackle before the draft.

What ultimately makes that decision could be revealed on Thursday, April 25th when the Cowboys make their first-round selection. The Cowboys had formal meetings with several prospects who fall in the Cowboys range at pick 24.

Clarence Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram has also reported that Jones is treating Tyler as the ‘working option’ at left tackle before the draft.

What ultimately makes that decision could be revealed on Thursday, April 25th when the Cowboys make their first-round selection. The Cowboys had formal meetings with several prospects who fall in the Cowboys range at pick 24.

• OT Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State
• OT Amarius Mims, Georgia
• OT JC Latham, Alabama
• OT Troy Fautanu, Washington
• OT Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma
• OT Jordan Morgan, Arizona
• C Graham Barton, Duke
• C Zach Frazier, West Virginia

That’s eight linemen who should be drafted between picks 15 and 40. The Cowboys’ first-round draft pick could certainly come from this list of names. If the Cowboys draft an offensive tackle, they could keep Tyler at left guard. In this scenario, Brock Hoffman is likely the team’s new center, but he would be sandwiched between two All-Pro guards.

If the Cowboys select one of the top centers in this draft, they could slide Tyler back out to left tackle. In this scenario, T.J. Bass could be the team’s new left guard.

The position flexibility of Tyler Smith allows the Cowboys to go either direction. This means we likely won’t know where Tyler will play this upcoming season until later, but pick 24 should provide a huge clue.

Moving him back and forth is less than ideal, but it’s still early enough in his career that there’s plenty of time to figure things out. Remember, Tyron Smith started his career at right tackle, only to switch to left tackle when they learned that Doug Free couldn’t be trusted to protect Tony Romo’s blindside. By his second year at left tackle, Smith was an All-Pro that continued for four straight seasons (seven if you count Pro Bowls). And soon we will learn from what position Tyler Smith will be earning all his future All-Pros.

READ MORE:

From Dallas Cowboys to DLA: Chief of staff recounts career goals

Fixing things was just something Eric Smith did growing up. His dad dubbed him “man of the house” before heading to Vietnam, so Smith learned to repair everything from car batteries to washing machines to help his mom and three sisters make do.

“Stuff around the house would break and I knew we didn’t have a lot of money, so I figured out how to fix things. I loved doing it,” said the Defense Logistics Agency chief of staff.

That childhood penchant became a lifelong career when Smith picked maintenance, part of the Army Ordnance Corps, as his career field when he was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1982. On March 31, he’ll retire from a federal career that spans 39 years, almost 25 in uniform and a little over 14 as a member of the senior executive service. Both careers culminated at DLA. It was not a coincidence.

“When I retired from active duty at the tail end of my assignment with DLA in 2007, I mapped out a career plan to spend about 15 years as a federal civilian with the goal of eventually returning to DLA to finish the last five years of my career,” he said. “My time here on active duty was one of the best and most fulfilling assignments I had.”

Raised in the small town of Columbus, Georgia, by a father who believed being average wasn’t good enough, Smith yearned for more than the status quo. Many of his classmates expected to graduate high school and go to work at nearby mills or factories that processed things like snack cakes and bath towels.

“It just wasn’t what I wanted to do,” he said. “And I wanted to get out of the South, honestly.”

He earned a football scholarship to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and his first career goal was to get drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. His dad was proud but cautious, and he prodded Smith to also pursue Plan B by joining the ROTC. The Cowboys never called.

They did come and do a review of me, but I got hurt and had two shoulder injuries while playing defensive back,” Smith said. “They also wanted me to put on more weight. My nickname as a kid was ‘runt’ because I was always thin and could never gain weight.”

Instead of mourning lost dreams, Smith devoted himself to ROTC and stealing the eye of the girl he wound up marrying. In the Army, he rediscovered the joy of fixing things by repairing tanks and other large systems critical to battlefield success. He learned that being a military officer also meant leading others and taking care of soldiers and their families.

“Not everyone gets to do that. It isn’t easy,” he said.

Smith connected with his soldiers in a way that made many feel it was okay to seek help when they needed it. Some sought his advice on marriage issues or money problems. He adopted his dad’s coaching style, urging those under his charge to seek opportunities, to aim higher.

When you try to steer someone to the right path and next thing you know they’re getting promoted and doing well, it gives you a certain level of satisfaction,” he said. “Helping others reach their goals and aspirations … you just can’t put a value on that.”

The Army also taught Smith about supplies and transportation, and he eventually became a multifunctional logistics officer that he said matched DLA’s needs. He arrived at the agency as a lieutenant colonel in 2003 and in 2005 managed DLA’s operations center, now the Agency Synchronization Operations Center, during a hurricane season that ignited one of the largest emergency response efforts in American history.

Smith led the planning, coordination and execution of DLA’s response in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“Because of the scale and overwhelming success of our support, it was obvious to me that the federal government would recognize DLA’s critical value in civil disaster support and would look to us again for logistics support during future disasters,” he said.

While contract specialists at DLA’s supply chains refined agreements with contractors who could surge to meet future disaster needs, Smith helped officials understand what a structured logistics capability might look like at FEMA. In late 2006, as he contemplated military retirement, he learned that FEMA was creating a position for an assistant administrator to expand and lead its in-house logistics framework. He applied in 2007, was selected, and he was still there when Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York and New Jersey in fall 2012.

ontinually stretching goals was in Smith’s nature, so he sought new challenges at the Department of Energy in 2014. He spent three years there, most of it with the National Nuclear Security Administration, where he led an emergency management team charged with protecting the nation’s nuclear weapons enterprise. Then true to his plan, Smith returned to DLA in November 2019 when he was selected to be deputy director for DLA Energy. In May 2021, he returned to the agency’s headquarters as DLA chief of staff.

Smith said he was initially stunned by the scope of the chief of staff’s portfolio, which includes 12 offices ranging from DLA Installation Management to DLA Safety and Occupational Health.

“It made my head hurt and kept me up some nights, but I overcame it by learning from our staff directors and entrusting them,” he said. “DLA’s staff leaders really have a wealth of experience, acumen and passion that made my job exceptionally easy.”

Even amid the top rungs of DLA leadership, Smith still found himself “fixing.” When DLA Culture and Climate Survey scores revealed that some of his team’s employees didn’t understand how their jobs contributed to the agency’s overall mission, he went into repair mode.

“Mr. Smith created a newsletter that highlighted the work of some of the different offices under him. It helped employees feel valued and created a new sense of appreciation for what everyone does,” said Fawne Cady, who worked as Smith’s executive assistant until becoming program manager for DLA’s awards program in February.