By JON MACHOTA, SAAD YOUSUF and CALE CLINTON NYTimes News Service
Share this story

One of the league’s best left tackles is set to hang it up after 14 years in the league. Tyron Smith will sign a one-day contract with the Dallas Cowboys and announce his retirement, according to a team source. Smith will announce his retirement at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

Smith, 34, was drafted by Dallas with the ninth pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, immediately slotting into the Cowboys’ starting offensive line. Smith started his career at right tackle but beat out Doug Free for the left tackle position by his second year, holding down the position in Dallas for the next 12 years. Smith went on to make two first-team All-Pro rosters, three more second-team All-Pro teams and eight Pro Bowls with the Cowboys. Smith was named one of four tackles for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s.

ADVERTISING

During the 2024 offseason, Smith left the Cowboys to sign a one-year, $6.5 million contract with the New York Jets, where he started at left tackle for 10 weeks before being placed on injured reserve with a neck injury.

Over the years, injuries hampered some of Smith’s ability to consistently show up on the field. His last full season came in 2015, and Smith missed 44 games in the final five years of his career.

That being said, his play never dipped until his final season. Since 2015, Smith allowed more than 20 blown blocks in a single season just once, and his seven sacks allowed in 2024 were his most since 2015.

For over a decade, the left side of the Cowboys’ offensive line was an afterthought. After Dallas drafted Smith in 2011, he became one of the most reliable players for the team. In four of his first five seasons, Smith started every game, missing just one contest in his sophomore campaign.

In the four seasons that followed, availability started to become an issue, as he missed three games in each season between 2016 and 2019.

Those issues became a central part of the story from 2020 through the rest of his career.