A ligament in the left thumb, and a $96 million problem
Tyler Smith had been playing through it for weeks. Monday, Brian Schottenheimer stopped pretending it would go away: the Dallas Cowboys’ left guard is having the ligament repaired.
Injured reserve. Four to six weeks.
“Unfortunately, when you’re an offensive lineman, grip strength and that sort of thing really matter,” the Cowboys head coach said. “We know he heals quickly, we want to get it fixed, and he’ll be back before too long.”
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Three Pro Bowls, and the biggest guard contract the league has seen
Smith is 25 and already a three-time Pro Bowler. Dallas took him 24th overall in 2022 and he has started 63 regular-season games since.
His four-year, $96 million extension made him the highest-paid guard in NFL history the day he signed it. A line is only as good as its weakest link, and the Texas franchise had just spent heavily to make sure that link was no longer on the left side.
Then the timing. The injury lands days before the opener, taking the starter out for a real chunk of the opening stretch.
T.J. Bass gets the job
Schottenheimer named the replacement straight away. T.J. Bass, 27, moves into the starting spot.
Nobody’s idea of a headline, though he is not raw either: 48 regular-season appearances for Dallas since 2023, 10 starts, five of those last year alone. He knows the calls and the rhythms of this line. Now he has to hold it together for four to six weeks.
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