Tyron Smith is expected to miss at least two weeks after his knee injury in practice Wednesday, according to the Star-Telegram’s Carlos Mendez. The results of an MRI are pending, but the initial reports are frightening, considering the Cowboys’ lack of depth at offensive tackle. After releasing Sam Young earlier in the week, the Cowboys are down to only Jermey Parnell as a true tackle backup.
Jerry Jones says that the team has options:
We’ve got nine offensive linemen. We’ve got enough position flex in there with maybe one, possibly two of those younger guys over there at tackle. We won’t eliminate anybody from being able to give us a little flexibility there on game day.
Doug Free, Bill Nagy, Phil Costa and Kyle Kosier were slated to start next to Smith Sunday night, assuming that Costa proves to be ready to go. None of those three interior players would seem to be good options outside. In addition to Parnell, that leaves Derrick Dockery, David Arkin and Kevin Kowalski as available backups.
None of them are good options at tackle, but Dockery and Arkin would seem to be the only remote possibilities among the backup interior linemen. Any of the likely scenarios hearken back to last season’s opener when Alex Barron tried to play at tackle against the Redskins.