OXNARD, Calif. – Second-year left tackle Tyler Guyton will miss some time with a right knee injury, but the chances of him playing Week 1 against the Eagles is still a possibility.
Guyton, the Cowboys' first-round pick in 2024, got pushed back into some other bodies during a team period and went down awkwardly, staying on the ground for a few minutes before walking off the field under his own power alongside Micah Parsons and the team's training staff.
The good news for Dallas' is that Guyton's injury ended up being much less severe than initially anticipated, as early fears on Monday evening were that he had suffered a torn ACL and could miss the entire 2025 season. Now, that's not the case as reports indicate testing showed his ACL was intact and Guyton instead suffered a bone fracture, which could sideline him for at least one to two months.
All offseason, Brian Schottenheimer and the Cowboys staff have heaped praise for how Guyton has approached the offseason after admittedly struggling in his rookie season. From changing his diet to working with Tyron Smith in the offseason, he's looking to be a more reliable option for his teammates in his second year.
"I want to be the guy that can be depended on…" Guyton said in May. "I just feel like I had a lot to prove and I needed to work on things, and getting in here earlier was the way I was gonna do it. … I'm not going to make any excuses. I just didn't play as good as I needed to last year."
On Sunday after the Cowboys' first padded practice, Guyton spoke to reporters and felt he felt physically more prepared to be able to make that improvement.
"My body feels great," Guyton said. "I feel a big difference from last year to this year in terms of my stamina, my strength on the football field going into training camp, so big improvement."
This will now mark the second straight training camp where Guyton has missed valuable time and reps, with an injury and illness taking some of those away in his rookie season and now will likely keep him out for the rest of his second training camp.
Guyton's injury comes a day after Rob Jones, who had taken some first team reps at right guard and earned praise from Schottenheimer and his staff, suffered a broken bone in his neck and will miss 2-3 months.
In the meantime, Brian Schottenheimer and his staff will face the early challenge of figuring out how they want to configure the offensive line until Guyton returns. Their offseason approach in 2025 was to build depth across the roster, and they did so especially at offensive line and will have their options at left tackle.
Nathan Thomas, Hakeen Adeniji and Asim Richards are three names that could duke it out for the spot amongst others. Another option is to move Tyler Smith from left guard to left tackle, which he's done in the past, but then bears the question of who fills in at left guard.
Nonetheless, the Cowboys appear to have dodged what initially could have been a severe injury, but still need a plan in place should Guyton still not be ready during the early parts of the season.
