For a brief moment near the end of last season, it looked like Cowboys behemoth lineman Nate Thomas, the team’s seventh-round pick in 2024, would have a real crack at securing an NFL future. The Cowboys had put Tyler Guyton (the first-round pick in 2024) on the shelf after he struggled throughout the season and finally suffered a high ankle sprain. Thomas, who started in place of Guyton in Week 5 when Guyton was injured, was the next man up on the depth chart, so he took over the starting role in Weeks 13-15.
It didn’t go well. Thomas allowed just one pressure in Week 13, but allowed 12 in the next two games and was yanked from the starting lineup. With Guyton still out, the Cowboys moved star guard Tyler Smith out to tackle, throwing the entire future of the position into question.
Coming into the offseason program, the hope was that a now-healthy Guyton would simply win back the starting job, with Thomas challenging him for the role and moving Smith again an emergency option.
Some Assumed Tyler Guyton Won the LT Job
In fact, Guyton has been playing consistently enough in the spot, that many of the Cowboys reporters noted that Guyton had already won the job, a week into training camp. It was always obvious that the Cowboys wanted Guyton, as a former first-rounder, to be the starter.
And, as PFT on NBC Sports wrote this week, “The Cowboys went into their offseason program with a competition between Tyler Guyton and Nate Thomas for the left tackle job. The job appears about decided after one padded practice in training camp.”
Cowboys Need to See More From Nate Thomas
The problem, though, is that it was news to coach Brian Schottenheimer that the competition was over. Speaking before Cowboys practice on Thursday, he noted that Guyton had not sealed the job, but added some criticism of the approach that Thomas has taken to this point.
Guyton has been dealing with soreness in his elbow this week and has missed practice because of it. Thomas has been slowly getting better in his absence.
Cowboys’ Schottenheimer Calls Out Nate Thomas
Schottenheimer said of the Cowboys’ tackle situation: “Just to clarify that, like I said, you were very on your Ps and Qs watching things, but I have not said that Tyler Guyton is the starting left tackle of this football team. He is doing well. I said that Nate Thomas needs to prepare himself to play a little bit better in more of a starter capability to earn the right to get that chance to compete to be a starting tackle. And then, the reason that Nate got reps is because of Guyton’s elbow.
There is, when Nate does the things he is supposed to do to earn those opportunities. Which, he has been great, yesterday in the mock and so far today.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Cowboys Call Out Struggling Ex-Starter Amid Key Competition appeared first on HEAVY.