Dallas Cowboys will make LT decision by Monday, but the future is now for Tyler Smith

Thirteen days before the Sept. 11 season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Dallas Cowboys have not made a final decision on what they will do at left tackle after losing Pro Bowl veteran Tyron Smith to an avulsion fracture in his left knee

But scrambling would be an incorrect description of the atmosphere within the organization.

Vice president Stephen Jones indicated after Friday’s 27-26 preseason victory against the Seattle Seahawks that first-round pick Tyler Smith was the favorite to be Tyron Smith’s replacement, just as he was on draft day.

“Good news is we addressed it in the draft. From the get-go we said [Tyler Smith] is our future left tackle, the future just might be sooner than later,” Jones said. “The group as a whole has a lot of confidence in him.”

Jones and Coach Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys will make the final call by Monday.

Part of the reason for the team’s hesitancy is that Tyler Smith missed the last week of practice and Friday’s game with an ankle injury.

The injury is not considered serious, and the Cowboys are optimistic about his rehab and return to practice by next week.

“I know he got good work today in his rehab,” McCarthy said after the game. “He’ll get some field work tomorrow. We’ll know more by the end of the weekend.”

Smith did get some reps at left tackle in OTAs and minicamp, but he has spent the majority of training camp and the preseason in a battle with Connor McGovern for the starting job at left guard.

Jones said the team is not worried about Smith transitioning to tackle over the next two weeks because he played the position in college at Tulsa, where he received 21 starts at left tackle the previous two years.

“It is not foreign for him to step out there and play left tackle,” Jones said. “And that’s why we kept him on the left side because there’s a lot of things that go hand in hand. That’s why it was really important to work him over there rather than move him over to right tackle. Left side works good and we’ll see.

Jones said the team is making and fielding calls about potential options via trade and free agency.

But he said there are not a lot of guys out there who can step in and play right away.

He compared the situation to quarterback Dak Prescott in 2016, who came to the Cowboys as a fourth-round pick and was forced into the starting role when Tony Romo suffered a back injury in the final preseason game against the Seahawks.

The Cowboys went with Prescott over possible veteran options in free agency.

“Picked Tyler Smith No. 1; you don’t find a lot of guys out there that can step in and do better than Tyler,” Jones said. “Not unlike Dak. He had to step up when Tony got hurt. We didn’t go get a veteran QB.”