Cowboys New Tyler Smith Contract Projection Low-Balls Young All-Pro

FRISCO - Dallas Cowboys ownership wishes the new projection on offensive lineman Tyler Smith's coming extension was right.

It's not.

Smith is entering his fourth season with the team and has certainly lived up to his first-round draft selection back in 2022. The All-Pro is still only 24 years old and already considered one of the best guards in the NFL.

The Cowboys exercised Smith’s fifth year last month, keeping him in Dallas until the end of the 2026 season. If things remain as they are? He'll make about $21.27 million in that season.

Dallas has bigger plans here, of course.

Smith will have a chance for a huge payday. CowboysCountry.com projects that he could become the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history if he continues his stellar play.

He is an ironman and he eats up snaps, and he's a stud. ... and his new number, we are quite sure, will exceed $20 million per year.

But the first-round pick in 2022 out of Tulsa is, according to Spotrac going to get an extension estimated at $76 million over four years.

Sounds good. But's $19 million per season for the two-time Pro Bowler.

That's low-balling him.

How so? 

Dallas already picked up his fifth-year option for 2026 and that will be a salary of $21.27 million.

And in 2027, the franchise tag number for an offensive lineman (in play should no new contract come about) we bet will be more than $28 million.

Why would Smith - who right now is slated to earn a base salary of just $2.5 million for 2025 -  take $19 mil per year when by doing nothing he can get almost $50 mil guaranteed for two years?

The Cowboys would be wise to try and keep the 6-6, 330-pound Fort Worth native Smith on the roster for years to come, obviously. For someone who hasn’t even entered his physical prime yet, Smith will only continue to seek his sky-high ceiling.

This season Smith will likely prove he is a top-three guard in the NFL and the Cowboys should prepare deal with him also seeking a sky-high contract.