DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - In what is now the worst-kept secret at The Star this week, All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith will play right tackle when he makes his season debut on Sunday against Jacksonville.
105.3 The Fan's Bobby Belt reported that Smith worked at right tackle in Thursday's padded practice, a position he hasn't played since his rookie season in 2011.
But the Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones aren't worried about that.
"Absolutely he does. Yes, sir. It's like riding a bicycle," Jones said when asked if Smith has position flex. "You do need reps. Don't get me wrong. The more reps you got, the better you should play," Jones said. "The skill that he's got. The physical attributes he's got. As well as the experience and years ago that he had playing the position. All of that will kick in here."
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy was asked about Smith moving to the opposite side of the offensive line during his weekly visit with 'Shan, RJ and Bobby' on Friday, but he wouldn't go into specifics about where Smith might play. However, McCarthy did say that the team worked through as many as five different offensive line combinations on Thursday.
“As far as the offensive line, I think the most important thing is we’ve really got to play, especially this week, to our practice reps and the rotations that we’ve been working on,” McCarthy said. “We’ve been preparing for Tyron to come back, but obviously we didn’t anticipate Terrance’s injury. So, I wanted to see yesterday, after going back through it I think we had five different combinations with our offensive line.
“You like to end up with five and go, but that’s just not where we are right now. So you’ll see different combinations throughout the game. ...
"Tyron is the ultimate team guy. Tyron just wants to win. He’s at that point in his career and he’s all about winning”
How many of those combinations will we see on Sunday? We'll see. But during his visit with the media later Friday morning, McCarthy said Smith won't play every snap, as he is coming off an avulsion fracture in his knee. That means you could see a rotation of Jason Peters, Smith and Josh Ball at right tackle against the Jaguars.
