Tyron Smith to sign a 1-day contract with Cowboys and announce retirement: Source
By Jon Machota, Saad Yousuf and Cale Clinton
One of the league's best left tackles is set to hang it up after 14 years in the league. Tyron Smith will sign a one-day contract with the Dallas Cowboys and announce his retirement, according to a team source. Smith will announce his retirement at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Advertisement
Smith, 34, was drafted by Dallas with the ninth pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, immediately slotting into the Cowboys' starting offensive line. Smith started his career at right tackle but beat out Doug Free for the left tackle position by his second year, holding down the position in Dallas for the next 12 years. Smith went on to make two first-team All-Pro rosters, three more second-team All-Pro teams and eight Pro Bowls with the Cowboys. Smith was named one of four tackles for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade Team for the 2010s.
During the 2024 offseason, Smith left the Cowboys to sign a one-year, $6.5 million contract with the New York Jets, where he started at left tackle for 10 weeks before being placed on injured reserve with a neck injury.
Over the years, injuries hampered some of Smith's ability to consistently show up on the field. His last full season came in 2015, and Smith missed 44 games in the final five years of his career. That being said, his play never dipped until his final season. Since 2015, Smith allowed more than 20 blown blocks in a single season just once, and his seven sacks allowed in 2024 were his most since 2015.
For over a decade, the left side of the Cowboys' offensive line was an afterthought. After Dallas drafted Smith in 2011, he became one of the most reliable players for the team. In four of his first five seasons, Smith started every game, missing just one contest in his sophomore campaign. In the four seasons that followed, availability started to become an issue, as he missed three games in each season between 2016 and 2019. Those issues became a central part of the story from 2020 through the rest of his career. Although he started 13 games in 2023, his final year in Dallas, there was a lot of health management the Cowboys had to navigate in the final years of Smith's Cowboys career. Eventually, that led to Dallas allowing Smith to test free agency in 2024 while also drafting his replacement in the first round of the 2024 draft.
Advertisement
Smith was the first cornerstone of a Cowboys offensive line unit that became known as one of the best in the NFL. After the Cowboys slotted Smith in place at left tackle, they drafted Travis Frederick in the first round in 2013 and Zack Martin in the first round in 2014. Those three players became pillars in Dallas and helped spur some dominant rushing season, most notably opening lanes for Demarco Murray in 2014 and then Ezekiel Elliott in 2016. The trio also played a key role in launching the career of quarterback Dak Prescott, both with their dominant play and their veteran leadership. — Saad Yousuf, Cowboys beat writer
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Clemson star wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. named a top player to watch for 2027 NFL draft
Clemson star wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. named a top player to watch for 2027 NFL draft The 2025 college football season hasn't even kicked off yet, but Clemson wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. is already drawing long-term attention from NFL scouts and analysts. Despite being just one year into his college career, the rising sophomore is already being viewed as a top prospect for the 2027 NFL Draft. A former consensus top-35 recruit out of Midlothian (Texas) High School, Wesco wasted no time making an impact in his true freshman season at Clemson. He led the Tigers in yards per reception (17.3), finishing the year with 41 catches for 708 yards and five touchdowns across 12 games, including 11 starts. His breakout year earned him freshman All-American honors from multiple outlets, including Pro Football Focus (PFF). PFF's Max Chadwick recently spotlighted Wesco as one of college football's most intriguing future NFL Draft prospects. 'Wesco's 707 receiving yards trailed only Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Williams among true freshmen wideouts while his 2.21 yards per route run were fifth and led the Tigers this season,' Chadwick wrote. He also pointed to Wesco's dominant performance in Clemson's ACC Championship victory over SMU as a defining moment. In that game, Wesco hauled in eight passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns — setting a new ACC Championship Game record for receiving yards by a freshman and tying for the second-most by any player in the game's history. Wesco's production didn't stop there. The ACC title game was one of three 100-yard receiving performances for him in 2024, making him just the fifth true freshman in Clemson history to accomplish that feat since the NCAA granted permanent freshman eligibility in 1972. His 17.3 yards per catch marked the highest average by a Tiger with at least 40 receptions since Tee Higgins in 2019 (19.8), and the best by a Clemson freshman with 40 or more catches since Justyn Ross in 2018 (21.7). Both PFF and ESPN are bullish on Wesco's future heading into the 2025 season, ranking him among the top receivers in the country. PFF placed him at No. 7 among returning wideouts, while ESPN slotted him at No. 8 — further evidence of the high expectations surrounding the young Tiger. Alongside fellow sophomore standout T.J. Moore, Wesco is expected to be a focal point of Clemson's passing game this season. And while there's still a long road ahead before the 2027 NFL Draft, Wesco is already turning heads with his elite combination of speed, body control, and big-play ability Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Packers TE Tucker Kraft wants to do more damage downfield in 2025
Packers TE Tucker Kraft wants to do more damage downfield in 2025 Tucker Kraft was one of the NFL's most efficient pass-catching tight ends on short throws during the 2024 season, but the tackle-breaking Green Bay Packer wants to take his game to the next level by becoming a better weapon down the field in 2025. Including the postseason, Kraft caught 47 of his 55 passes on targets thrown under 10 yards in the air last season, per Pro Football Focus. But he was only targeted 10 times on passes 10 or more yards in the air, highlighting his limited opportunities as a downfield receiver. The Packers leaned on Kraft in the short game, using him as a check down option, in the flat on short routes or on screens to get the ball in his hands quickly and easily and make the most of his incredible ability to break tackles after the catch. But there's a next step for Kraft as a third-year player with huge potential. No tight end in the NFL is a consistently dominant threat on throws over 20 yards down the field, but the intermediate range -- between 10 and 19 yards -- is where the best of the best do most of their damage. Five tight ends had 300 or more receiving yards in that intermediate area in 2024: George Kittle (second-team All-Pro), Mark Andrews, Travis Kelce (Pro Bowl), Trey McBride (Pro Bowl) and Zach Ertz. Kraft, meanwhile, ranked 22nd among tight ends in receiving yards and tied for 34th in receptions in the intermediate area. This past week, Kraft said he wanted to get better at separation against man-to-man coverage and reading coverage schemes pre-snap to help power an improvement as a downfield receiver in 2025. Kraft did plenty of damage when given the opportunity downfield last season. He caught eight of his 10 targets on throws over 10 yards in the air, creating 270 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Quarterbacks had a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeting him on throws of both 10-19 yards down field and 20 or more yards, so there's evidence of what Kraft can do when provided the opportunity. Winning more against man coverage would provide more opportunities. And it's clear the Packers want to make Kraft more of a focal point of the passing game after he turned only 70 total targets into 707 receiving yards and seven scores in 2024. The game's best pass-catching tight ends can beat linebackers and safeties to all areas of the field when defenses elect to play man coverage, get into passing windows and find soft spots in zone coverages, and make plays in the scramble drill when quarterbacks extend plays. Kraft can catch the short pass and make magic happen after. To become a truly elite tight end, Kraft must become a higher volume target in the downfield parts of the field -- a goal he's set and ready to chase in 2025. Tucker Kraft, downfield receiving stats in 2024 (PFF)
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Red Sox manager Alex Cora and Yankees slugger Aaron Judge create happy moment for Cora's twin boys
BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox manager Alex Cora wanted his twin 7-year-old sons to meet the Yankees' Aaron Judge, the biggest star of his team's AL East foe. 'They were like 'No, no. He's a rival,''' the Boston manager recalled. Cora persisted, mentioning players that have spent time with both teams, like Alex Verdugo. Xander and Isander Cora got to meet the 6-foot-7 All-Star before Boston's 4-3 win on Saturday night. The brothers wore Boston's new alternate jerseys in Fenway green. Cora took a photo of the boys with Judge, who gave one of them a set of batting gloves. 'I only had one pair on me, so that's all I could do,' Judge said, smiling. 'We're rivals when we step on that field for 7 o'clock,' Judge told The Associated Press on Sunday morning. 'He's a dad. He's got two sons that are big baseball fans, so I get the chance to meet them and talk a little baseball with them. ... That's another cool part of the job.' Cora had been hoping for a while to set up the meeting. 'Last week, I texted him and said: 'We need to do this, and he was like: 'Just let me know,'' the manager said. 'I'm a fan of all these guys. These guys, they kick our butt and sometimes we do it to them,' Cora said. 'At the end, we're a fraternity. I've been watching him since 2017. I think last year, we started communicating. I'm in awe with everything that goes on with him because it's (Shohei) Ohtani and Judge. They're the faces of baseball. The way he conducts himself on and off the field.' Cora said one of his sons is outspoken and the other is shy. Cora shared details of the get-together with his wife, Angelica. 'They were kind of like quiet in the beginning and then they were comfortable,' he said, before breaking into a laugh as he finished the story. 'They called Angelica after the fact and said: 'He's shy. They called him shy.'' Judge was marking his first Father's Day as a dad. His wife, Samantha, gave birth to Nora Rose on Jan. 27. 'Definitely, being a dad now, I look at it a little different,' the Yankees outfielder said of the meeting and signing autographs for fans after batting practice. 'Just try to take maybe five minutes, six minutes out of my day. That's a memory they get to have for a lifetime. Even for me, those are special moments I get to share with fans.' Cora's boys can expect a present. Another set of batting gloves, so there is one for each. 'He said he was going to send it,' Cora said. 'They said: 'He didn't sign it.' I said: 'Don't worry about it. You got the picture.' ___ AP MLB:
