Tyron Smith has played 10 seasons at left tackle, starting 128 regular-season games, logging 8,251 regular-season snaps and earning eight Pro Bowls. He last played right tackle as a rookie in 2011.
But Smith will return from a knee injury on Sunday expected to play right tackle.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Smith has the position flex to make the move back to the other side.
“Absolutely he does. Yes, sir,” Smith said Friday on 105.3 The Fan, via Mark Lane of WFAA. “It’s like riding a bicycle. Now, you do need reps. Don’t get me wrong. The more reps you got, the more you should play, and that’s a fact. But still, you have the experience he’s got, the skill that he’s got, the physical attributes he’s got, as well as the experience that he had years ago of playing that position, all of that will kick in here.”
That wasn’t the original plan for the Cowboys. Smith was expected to step back in at left tackle, pushing Tyler Smith inside to left guard, but that was before starting right tackle Terence Steele tore his ACL on Sunday.
Josh Ball, a 2021 fourth-round pick, stepped in against the Texans after Steele departed, but in crunch time, it was veteran Jason Peters who took over the position. Peters had not played the position since 2005.
Coach Mike McCarthy said the Cowboys worked through as many as five different offensive line combinations Thursday.
But if Smith plays right tackle, the Cowboys can keep continuity in the rest of the line and still have their five best players in the lineup with Peters as the top backup option.
“Unfortunately, we’ve lost a great player in Terence,” quarterback Dak Prescott said Thursday, via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “But we’ve got a couple of guys that can step in, and when you’ve got a guy that’s a future gold jacket potentially that can play over there, yeah, you’re going to trust the training, trust the reps that we have, trust the way that we’ve been working this week in practice and moving forward on a lot of these things.”
Tyron Smith underwent surgery Aug. 26 to repair an avulsion fracture to his left knee, so Sunday will mark his season debut.
