Cowboys Rookie Tyler Booker: Not Winning at Alabama Fuels My 'Burn and Passion'
"I love to win, and I hate to lose. I lost too much this past year. I lost a lot more than I should have in college, me being at Alabama," Booker said in an interview with the Dallas Morning News. "I left without a national championship and that's something that is going to burn at me for the rest of my life. So I'm going to bring that burn and passion and desire with me to the NFL and transfer that over to wanting to win Super Bowls."
Booker, a four-star recruit, played three seasons at Alabama (2022-24), with whom he shined. In 2022, Booker played at both guard spots before becoming Alabama's full-time left guard and earning first team All-SEC honors from the Associated Press in 2023. Last season (2024), Booker started 12 games at left guard, one at left tackle and was an All-American.
As for Booker's Crimson Tide teams as a whole, Alabama went a combined 32-8 over the past three seasons, making the College Football Playoff in the 2023 season but losing a heart-breaker to eventual-national champion Michigan in the semifinal round. Last season, Alabama went 9-4 overall and 5-3 in SEC play, but Booker played in the team's ReliaQuest Bowl loss to Michigan.
Booker, who stands at 6-foot-4 and 321 pounds, joins a Cowboys team that missed the playoffs last season at 7-10. Meanwhile, quarterback Dak Prescott missed the final nine games due to a hamstring injury, and Dallas fired head coach Mike McCarthy after five seasons, then promoted offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to head coach.
Booker's selection marks the third time in the past four years that the Cowboys have drafted an offensive lineman in the first round; Dallas selected Oklahoma's Tyler Guyton with the No. 29 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and Tulsa's Tyler Smith with the No. 24 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. With Guyton and Smith on the left side, Booker is projected to start at right guard for the Cowboys.
"I'm very excited about training camp and putting the pads on," Booker said. "I'm really excited for the opportunity to get better, because I know there will be things I have to work on and things I have to get better at and things I have to learn. I'm very excited to go through the whole process and learn."
Booker and the Cowboys open the 2025 preseason on the road against the Los Angeles Rams on Aug. 9 and open the regular season on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 4.
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