Well, that was fast. It took one padded practice for the Dallas Cowboys to settle one of training camp’s most watched position battles. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer told reporters Tuesday that Tyler Guyton is the team’s starting left tackle, declaring the team needs to see “a little bit more consistent play” from Nate Thomas to push Guyton for the spot. 

“Tyler will stay at left tackle,” Schottenheimer said. “Excited to see how Nate handles that challenge. But Tyler is playing really, really well.”

The announcement effectively ends a competition that Schottenheimer himself had declared earlier this offseason, one that raised eyebrows across Cowboys Nation about the former first-round pick’s development.

Guyton looked the part on Monday

When Schottenheimer first announced the open competition between Guyton and Thomas, many took it as a sign that Guyton wasn’t taking the steps he needed to become Dallas’ long-term answer at left tackle. That announcement came before OTAs, before mandatory minicamp, and well before the pads went on.

On Monday, Guyton looked sharp in pads. He won his blocks, specifically in pass protection, which is where he’s needed the most improvement. In the run game, there was a play where he climbed to the second level and simply swallowed linebacker DeMarvion Overshown. Overshown had nothing he could do on the play because Guyton is a massive human being who can move at an uncommon speed for his size.

According to Schottenheimer, those are the dividends paying off from a big offseason for Guyton.

“I think he’s doing some really great things,” Schottenheimer said. “His sets are very compact. He’s in control. He’s not oversetting, he’s playing the leverage game, his punches have been good. But I don’t think that’s anything new to the pads. That started with him being one of the first guys back in the building, I think February I saw him. He was an offseason award winner.”

Work ethic and better execution are putting Guyton in a winning position.

The consistency and health concerns have always been the story with Guyton. Will this be enough to consider him a quality left tackle? Only time will tell. But for now, it’s clear he’s well above Thomas on the depth chart.

The Cowboys are being fair to Guyton

This declaration is also the Cowboys giving Guyton his due. Thomas could develop into a solid swing tackle and a reliable backup, but nothing he’s done on the field has made him a legitimate candidate to start at left tackle. I would struggle to make the case that Thomas has ever been better than Guyton.

At the time the competition was announced, I questioned whether it was a genuine battle or simply a motivation tactic for Guyton. Thinking back on it now, maybe it was also a motivation tactic aimed at Thomas. Give the backup a carrot: ball out and you can be Dak Prescott’s blindside protector. According to Schottenheimer, Thomas hasn’t taken those steps. So there’s no competition going on at left tackle.

What this means for Tyler Smith

Here’s the thing about this vote of confidence in Guyton: it reduces the conversation about potentially sliding Tyler Smith to left tackle, a scenario Cowboys Nation has discussed at length. When Dallas reported to camp, Smith told reporters he hadn’t been told anything by the coaches about where he would play.

Schottenheimer did clarify during his opening press conference that Guyton is the left tackle, Smith is the left guard, and they might cross-train as part of preparation. But this latest declaration suggests Cowboys fans should not expect Smith to move around. The Cowboys’ Plan A is Tyler Guyton at left tackle. Plan B appears to be Tyler Guyton at left tackle, too. In other words, kicking Smith to tackle would be a break-in-case-of-emergency kind of situation, not something anyone should project into the starting lineup.

All in all, that’s a positive sign for the Cowboys offense. More answers are still needed, of course. But if Guyton continues to play well in practice, Dallas can check one major box heading into the regular season.

The real test is coming

Guyton likely won’t play in the preseason, but next week looms large. The Cowboys are set for a joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams, who just so happen to have traded for superstar edge rusher Myles Garrett earlier in the offseason. That will be perhaps the biggest test for Guyton this preseason.