The Cowboys avoided the worst, but the reality of their limited back up options to Tyler Guyton should lead them to the free agent market.
For around 45 minutes, the expectation was that the Dallas Cowboys were going to be without left tackle Tyler Guyton for the year. Now that things aren't nearly that bad, he'll miss the next 4-6 weeks, the front office still needs to re-consider their backup plans.
No matter the player, teams with quality front offices have contingencies in place before entering training camp should the unthinkable happen. When concern was heavy that Guyton had torn his ACL in the team's second padded practice of training camp, they likely started thinking about Plan B.
Initially, Plan B will look like giving a shot to the in-house options. Asim Richards and Nate Thomas had been taking the backup snaps at left tackle behind Guyton. Hakeem Adeniji has experience at left tackle, but through the first week of camp the team had been working him exclusively as the backup right tackle as it looked like the new coaching regime preferred dedicated sides of the field.
Much was made of how the team didn't sign any mid-level veteran during free agency, somewhat giving a vote of confidence to Guyton, who struggled in his rookie season after moving over from playing right tackle at Oklahoma. But now that leaves the team with little experience at the spot meant to protect their $60 million per year quarterback Dak Prescott.
After such a scare, it's probably prudent for the team to start to make those calls, in cause Guyton's recovery and rehab takes longer than expected. The problem is this year, more than any other season, going outside of the building doesn't offer many quality options.
Tyron Smith
Flashing back to March, the club re-signing their future Hall of Famer in order to give him his proper goodbye, allowing Tyron Smith to retire as a Dallas Cowboy. They might want to pick up the phone and see if watching people report to training camp has stirred some juices up. It's a long shot, but Smith started 10 games last year, and his 23 combined starts over his last two years is technically the most he's seen in a stretch since 2018-2019.
It's not like Smith is coming back for the dog days of August, but perhaps there's a world where the team talks him into returning after camp, giving him a six-week window to get himself back in game shape to help for the stretch of the season.
Jedrick Wills
The best option might be the most difficult to pull off. Wills is a recent top-10 overall pick, selected by Cleveland in the 2020 draft. He's never lived up to the billing, but he has been a serviceable tackle in the past. The problem is that Wills declared he intended to sit out all of 2025 to give himself a year away from the game to heal up. He's dealt with a series of knee issues and wants to see if taking a year off will allow things to strengthen to the point he can return to the field full healthy.
Of course, Wills has played his entire career in Cleveland. The Browns are absolutely bad enough to turn someone off from football. Wills is a free agent though and could've signed elsewhere, but there's zero reason why the Cowboys shouldn't call him to gauge his current interest in returning to the game.
Germain Ifedi
Ifedi may be the most sane and possible option. Despite sitting out all of 2023, Ifedi had a really strong close to his 2024, with 80+ pass blocking grades against Miami and Baltimore in the final two weeks of the season. The first two-thirds of his season were an abject failure, but perhaps things are on the upward swing for the eight-year veteran.
George Fant
A truly break-glass-in-case-of-emeregency, Fant's starting days are likely well behind him. However, bringing him in for a trial run to see if there's anything left in the tank for the nine-year veteran might be wise. Fant started his career with Seatle and has spent time with the New York Jets, Houston Texans before returning to Seattle for two games last season.
Fant has never been a consistent performer, but he's waiting for a call and there isn't much else on the market at this point.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Free agent options limited but Cowboys may need to sign veteran tackle
Category: Football