3 Cowboys Starters Who Must Be Replaced This Offseason

2. Tyron Smith, left tackle

Just as he is about to hit free agency, the Cowboys' longtime franchise left tackle had one of the best seasons of his entire NFL career.

Although Smith has struggled some with injuries in recent years, and the Cowboys have had to adjust to life without him on a variety of occasions, he proved why he's such a valuable asset to this team during the 2023 season. He played 13 games this past season for Dallas, but I don't know how much cash the Cowboys are going to commit to Smith given a few different situations offensively.

We mentioned the contract situations of Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. Micah Parsons will be due for an extension likely next offseason.

Can the Cowboys really afford to pay Tyron Smith market value when they don't even know if they're going to get 75 percent of a season from him?

I think you may have the left tackle of the future already on the roster with left guard Tyler Smith, a collegiate tackle who is playing guard simply because of the presence of Tyron Smith on the roster. But the Cowboys could maintain flexibility this offseason, looking to the NFL Draft for help at either guard or tackle in order to put the best five out there moving forward.

It just feels likely that the team is moving on from Tyron Smith this offseason, even though we know how much Jerry Jones hates moving on from his former first-round picks.