FRISCO, Texas 鈥� Only a few days ahead of the 2026 regular season opener, the 蜜桃TV came to terms with the fact they'll be without all-world left guard Tyler Smith for, at minimum, the first four games due to a thumb injury that requires surgery to repair.
The impact of that loss will be immediately felt, but the wound could be salved by proven backup T.J. Bass, and the decision to issue a second-round tender before re-signing him is paying dividends already.
It goes without saying that the Cowboys will miss Smith, though.
"[He is] truly incredible," former first-round pick Tyler Guyton said of the two-time All-Pro. "I think he's a special player. He really is.鈥〢nd the things that he does, I have never seen other people do.
"He's really one of those once in a generational players, and playing next to him for going on three years now, it's a blessing. I have learned a lot from him and I couldn't say enough good things about him."
Guyton has taken those lessons learned into his third training camp with the Cowboys and made it the best of his young career, and a large part of it was also due to his availability.
After struggling to remain on the field prior to this offseason, including in his previous two training camps, Guyton remained healthy the entire time and prepared to take on the New York Giants with no health issues to concern himself with.
"Honestly, I'm blessed. I feel good," he said. "I'm supported by so many good people, and I have so much love around me that I just can't be more thankful to go into the season with health and to finally complete a training camp."
Having made wholesale changes last year, to both his diet and training regimen, Guyton made it known that, this time around, it wasn't about overhauling his offseason process.
It was about fine tuning it.
"I made smaller tweaks 鈥� trying to be more tough, and things like that," he explained. "But, honestly, it was just a good diet, working out harder, trying to do prehab instead of rehab, and just trying to check all my boxes before I get out there on the field."
So far so good, and it's also showing in his self-confidence that feels as if it's through the roof for Year 3. Not that Guyton ever lacked it in the first place, but the rookie learning curve is a real thing, and the challenge of it can be (and for him, it was) exacerbated by his aforementioned struggles with availability.
Now that he's healthy, with a full training camp under his belt, and far more experienced (including at left tackle, seeing as he was transitioning to that spot in 2024), Guyton's aura simply feels different than it's been to this point in his budding career.
"Yeah, I agree, but that takes time, though," he said. "I had to get the reps under my belt and, you know, I had to go through some losses to win. It's a process. You've got to take every day for what it is but, over time, the confidence is built through repetition and practice."
Guyton is looking forward to a major test to start this season, the defensive front of the New York Giants, because he believes it will "tell me where I am right now" in said process.
But, again, so far, so good 鈥� even if it's arriving a little later for the Sooner.
