FRISCO, TEXAS — Tyron Smith: eight-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle and Pro Bowl honors for seven straight years from 2013-19; five-time All-Pro, twice AP First Team All Pro; one of the four offensive tackles chosen for the 2010s NFL All-Decades team; 14 seasons in the NFL—13 for the Dallas Cowboys, one as a New York Jet.
But today, marked a full circle moment for him—who is a strong candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in five years and the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor, Smith announced his retirement after signing a one-day, ceremonial deal with the Cowboys before retiring where he began.
“You can’t talk about the ending without appreciating the beginning,” Smith said.
He started out cleaning windows, and working a janitorial job; he was too big for his age group to play Pop Warner football, but when offered to play at the University of Southern California, it was that much more enticing for him to say yes given he was from Moreno Valley, California, and he would get to stay close to home to still be able to do laundry at his mother’s house.
Fast forward to the end of his collegiate career. He laughed, saying “I actually missed another team’s interview because the Cowboys asked me to meet with Jerry [Jones]” before the 2011 NFL Draft.
The longtime left tackle’s first season was on the right for the Cowboys after getting drafted No. 9 overall—the first offensive lineman selected in the first round since Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones bought the franchise in the 1980s.
To Jones, Smith said “thank you for believing in me, and for taking a chance on me 14 years ago.”
He would start on the right for just one season, before making the left side of the line his home as a Cowboy for the next 12 years. Beginning his career protecting quarterback Tony Romo, then others and current QB1 Dak Prescott, then ending with Aaron Rodgers in New York—one of the game’s best blindside blockers, now hanging up his helmet.
Smith said Dak was “one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” and credited the running backs he blocked for, saying, “you guys made us feel like we could do anything.” He played a big part in Ezekiel Elliott and DeMarco Murray being the NFL’s leading rushers, Elliott twice and Murray once. He also acknowledged the likes of linebacker DeMarcus Ware, a defender who stood out to him at Training Camps in Oxnard, California, and the guy who taught him how to shave his head.
He never won a Super Bowl, and while Smith said he regrets not having done so, and Jones believes “it’s a tragedy” the franchise did not win one with him at left tackle, Jones confidently said “I can really say that no player… have I ever been more impressed with on and off the field… He had the highest character grade in the whole draft… every move he made in his career reflected that work ethic.”
While he started talking about retirement before guard Zack Martin made his own announcement a few months ago, it “came full circle” for Smith afterwards—he knew it was time.
There was “no question I would come here and retire as a Cowboy… This was always going to be home,” Smith said.
What was important to him and Jones? That Dallas would be the last team Smith signed with.
“I wanna be the first one to shake your hand when you go into the Hall of Fame,” Jones said.
Although he wishes he could have stayed with the Cowboys longer, that he could play until he was 40 years old, Smith said he had to listen to his body. But until he is inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor, even beyond that, he’ll be keeping plenty busy.
The decision to retire came easy because, “I’ve got kids to wrestle, and I’m on the night time baby shift,” Smith said.
