When you're playing in the shade of Zack Martin, it's easy to get overlooked, I guess. Otherwise, it's hard to comprehend why Dallas Cowboys left guard Tyler Smith was left out of ESPN's recent Top 10 ranking listing the best interior offensive linemen in the NFL.
The ranking, which is put together by polling a group of NFL coaches, executives, and scouts, snubbed Smith despite his latest season yielding second-team All-Pro honors. Although it teammate Zack Martin at No. 1, Smith only got a honorable mention toward the end of the article with a quote from an anonymous AFC exec claiming ""He's the next one. Incredibly gifted. Just needs more time on task."
But does he? Let's dive in.
Although Tyler Smith's physical traits suggest he's only going to get better, his numbers and film suggest he's already arrived instead of being the "next" big thing: Among 54 guards with at least 763 snaps, Pro Football Focus ranks Smith as the second-best in pass blocking efficiency, which measures pressure rate with an added weight toward sacks allowed. Smith is also Top 6 in run blocking grade.
To be fair, Smith did fail to make ESPN's run/pass block winning rate leaderboards (which includes centers). However, he still had a very impressive 91% win rate, which is up there with the best in the league as the 20th ranked iOL sat at 93% in the end of season leaderboard.
Tyler Smith should take this as a serious dose of motivation
One could legitimately argue that Smith had a better year in 2023 than Zack Martin, who despite playing at an elite level, didn't look like his prime self after holding out from training camp in search of a new deal. Martin, who has revealed he's contemplated retiring after 2024, had a few rough moments on film despite still being deserving of yet another first-team All-Pro nod at the end of the year.
While that was going on, Smith dominated the likes of Aaron Donald, Jalen Carter, and other top-tier defensive tackles.
So to be left out of the Top 10 interior linemen by NFL decision-makers should only light a fire under Smith, who is entering his third year in the pros but the first with one big difference: The absolute certainty that he's set to start at left guard.
As a rookie, Smith was working at guard before having to replace an injured Tyron Smith at left tackle for the full season only weeks away from the Cowboys' season opener. Fast forward to 2023 and some questions remained at this time of the year as to how the Cowboys would use their linemen as they moved both players around during the spring.
This time around, Tyler will have a full regular season and an offseason working solely on the inside. We'll see if he gets the results to avoid being snubbed again in such a list next year.
