National Football League

Is the answer to Cowboys' offensive-line uncertainty simpler than it seems?

Published May. 19, 2023 9:12 a.m. ET

There's one piece missing from the puzzle, but the Cowboys aren't in a hurry to reveal the final picture just yet.

To be fair to them, that's what this time of year is for. The full team hasn't yet hit the field for OTAs, and training camp still feels distant. If the Cowboys don't want to give away the game by announcing their plans at left guard, good for them.

It is interesting, though, that they're keenly aware of which combination of players gives them the best chance for success. Asked about it Wednesday, Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones had no problem listing them off.

"Our top five linemen are our top five linemen: Tyron Smith, Tyler Smith, [Tyler] Biadasz, [Terence] Steele and Zack [Martin]," he said. "We really felt like that if we're going get your best five guys that have played in this league, that those are your best five. We'll see what happens from there."

Playing the "best five" is a football cliché as old as the game itself, so it sounds like a fantastic strategy. But it brings us back to the original dilemma of determining how to fit those five players into one lineup.

Zack Martin will go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the best right guard of his generation, and Tyler Biadasz was just named to his first Pro Bowl at center. That part was easy.

Everything else? Not so much. Tyler Smith was originally slated to play left guard as a rookie, but Tyron Smith's recurring injury issues bumped him out to left tackle earlier than expected, where he rose to that challenge. Tyron Smith built his own Hall of Fame resume at left tackle, but when he was ready to return from injury, Terence Steele's torn ACL forced him to the right side for the final month of the season.

Then there's Steele, who is still recovering from that injury, and who has only ever played right tackle in three NFL seasons — but who club officials have suggested could do anything from playing swing tackle to left guard.

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There may be opportunities for others. The front office signed veteran Chuma Edoga with an eye on playing him at guard. Fifth-round draft pick Asim Richards will get a crack at it, despite playing left tackle in college. Josh Ball, originally drafted in 2021, is also likely to spend the summer at guard after two years at tackle.

"Josh Ball will certainly get an opportunity to compete for that spot, we're big fans of Chuma and this staff has done a lot of work on him," Jones said. "We really feel like he can come in there and help, and then we'll see how these rookies can do, especially Asim."

It's encouraging to see some viable fallback options, but don't let that distract you from the thesis statement. We know who the Cowboys consider their "best five," and we don't know officially how they'd line up. But with the information outlined, it's easy to take a guess.

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Steele has played on the right side of the line since 2017, his sophomore season in college — and again, he's still recovering from an injury that may limit how many reps he gets this summer. Frankly, moving him to a new position on the other side of the center seems like a silly solution to the problem.

Conversely, Tyler Smith was slated to play left guard at the outset of his career and spent last summer working there. For that matter, he acknowledged his willingness to play there as recently as two weeks ago. "I'm like, ‘Just tell me where to go, and I'll go,'" Smith told ESPN. "I'm ready to go wherever I can to contribute. I'm just ready to keep improving."

The Cowboys can play this out if they want to. They'd even be smart to do that. Tyron Smith's injury is well-documented, and Steele's timetable is murky. It makes sense to try as many different combinations as they can in case things go awry.

But if we're talking about a "best five" for Week 1, we already know who they are — and it's not actually that hard to connect the dots on where they'll play.

David Helman covers the Dallas Cowboys for FOX Sports. He previously spent nine seasons covering the Cowboys for the team’s official website. In 2018, he won a regional Emmy for his role in producing "Dak Prescott: A Family Reunion" about the quarterback’s time at Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter at @davidhelman_.