Nobody here at The Star is "celebrating'' this Jets outcome, of course; Tyron Smith deserves more respect than that. But Cowboys management does have the right to claim it made the correct call here.
FRISCO - Tyron Smith is a beloved figure here inside The Star in Frisco and in our experience, across the entirety of Cowboys Nation. For more than a decade, he was the starting left tackle of the Dallas Cowboys, having built a resume as a first-ballot Hall of Famer and a world-class teammate.
So when the Cowboys made the difficult financial decision to not retain him in the spring of 2023, Tyron opting to chase a payday with the New York Jets? It was a sentimental goodbye from the Dallas fan base, as opposed to a bitter one.
But there was and is one other factor that sort of slipped under the radar. No, the Cowboys didn't want anything to do with matching the dollar figure that New York ponied up for the 33-year-old blocker; His one-year deal, if you read the fine print, can be worth up to $20 million. And seriously, that might be four times what the Cowboys were willing to spend in this "Blow It Up/Remodel'' season.
But there was something else: A concern - as solid as the many-time All-Pro was in 2023 - that the injuries were catching up with Smith and that his ability to dominate was waning.
Fast-forward to his time in New York with the assignment of protecting Aaron Rodgers, and ... it hasn't worked out well for the Jets. At all.
In all six starts, Smith has given up five sacks and a boatload of pressures that has placed him in a situation where Jets watchers view him as one of the offensive line's weakest players during the entire season to this point.
Despite his struggles, though, the Jets and their coaching staff believe the best days are still to come for Smith and the offensive line.
"Just like everybody, just like this team, we got to get into a groove and we're about to do that," Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich explained, "I feel that coming on, so he's improving just like the rest of them are improving and we're about to be the best version of ourselves this Sunday."
New York needs Smith playing at a high level if the Jets want to not only save their season from their 2-4 struggles, but also to solve their recent offensive line struggles. ... Because in many ways, Smith is a major cause of that latter problem.
Nobody here at The Star is "celebrating'' this outcome, of course; Tyron deserves more respect than that. But Cowboys management does have the right to claim it made the correct call here.
