Cowboys’ draft pick Tyler Smith: his nasty alter ego, wearing Larry Allen’s number, ignoring media

It’s suddenly a lovefest in Frisco as the Cowboys’ stunner of a first-round draft pick wasted no time making new fans with his magnetic personality. Over the course of a 20-minute introductory press conference Friday, Tulsa tackle Tyler Smith had team owner Jerry Jones, head coach Mike McCarthy, and even the Dallas media eating out of his hand.

He seems intent on turning expectations inside out, whether it’s waxing philosophic about football history, matter-of-factly describing his mauling style of play, or slipping in a perfectly-timed off-color joke.

The Cowboys drafted Smith to be the team’s left tackle of the future. To help him get there, they’ll line him up alongside the left tackle of the present, an eight-time Pro Bowler.

“It’s eerie to me, some of the similarities,” team owner Jerry Jones said as he introduced Smith, “sitting here, sitting with you, as when Tyron Smith came from Southern Cal.”

And to add to the youngster’s motivation, the Cowboys are already putting him in the uniform of one of the top linemen to ever wear the star.

“I took a picture of my new jersey. It’s an honor to wear that number,” Smith said of his No. 73. “Larry Allen wore that number. I’ve seen a lot of the adversity that he went through in his life. I feel like I resonate with a lot of that, so it means a lot to be able to wear that and be able to carry on the lineage there, for sure.”

A self-professed student of the game who can’t wait to dissect game film and binges football documentaries, Smith says his favorite player to watch on tape is Barry Sanders. But he’s eager to make his own mark on the game after leaving two years of college eligibility on the table to turn pro just days after his 21st birthday.

But the Fort Worth native wasn’t sure he’d be playing for his hometown team. He and the Cowboys had limited interaction during the pre-draft process; he wasn’t a 30 visit, nor did he attend Dallas Day for local prospects.

So getting the call from Jones during the first round of the draft came as a wonderful surprise.

“Probably the best day of my life, pound for pound. I can’t think of anything better,” Smith explained to media members. “Just to hear the phone call, see The Star on top of your phone, you’re looking… You know, there’s a delay on the TV; not many people tell you. But I’d seen them on the phone, and I’m [thinking], ‘Aw, he ain’t calling me. I’m like, ‘Damn, I’ll just wait my turn.’ Then I see it pop up, I answer, I hear Coach Jones here.”

That line alone gained him some goodwill with the Cowboys media. The owner loves to fancy himself a behind-the-scenes coach, and he jokes about it with reporters often. Smith even mistakenly referred to the 79-year-old billionaire as “Coach Jerry” during a Thursday night conference call with the press.

Jones ate it up. Actual head coach Mike McCarthy played along, faking offense and pretending to shut down the conversation when it came up again.

It’s been all smiles and laughs for Smith’s first 18 hours as a Cowboy. It’s difficult, though, to reconcile Smith’s easygoing manner and infectious smile with the player he apparently becomes on the field. Watch his tape, and the word that most readily comes to mind is “nasty.”

That’s what sold Dallas on Smith with the 24th pick. Smith knows it, and he intends to keep playing with those violent intentions.

“I wouldn’t call it, almost, an alter ego, but maybe that’s what it is,” the lineman shared. “When I get on the field, it’s us versus them. That’s just what it has to be. My job as an offensive lineman is to set the tone and protect the quarterback. That dude across from me, his job is to hit my quarterback and try to blow up what we’re doing. So every time I live up from somebody, I play with the mindset that they’re trying to take food out of my mouth, they’re trying to take food out of my teammates’ mouths.

“I want to make them think twice about getting up when they go against me, for sure.”

Smith has gotten used to people thinking twice about him. First it was questioning his future as a football player after a bout at a young age with a condition that deforms the lower legs.

“I was born with Blount’s disease,” says Smith. “I was bow-legged, more bow-legged in my left than my right. I had a procedure done in high school, my junior year before my senior year. I had to fight back from it, for sure. Early adversity.”

Recovering from that, Smith says, “revitalized my love for the grind.” He went on to All-America honors as a freshman with the Golden Hurricane in 2020 after a redshirt season and then won second-team All-AAC accolades last year.

Even still, there were skeptics when his name started to surface as a possibility for the Cowboys with their first-round pick. To his credit, though, Smith says he never heard those doubters. Or any of the pre-draft analysis, for that matter.

Because one of Smith’s first messages for the media was to delicately let them know that he doesn’t have much use for them.

“I try to stay away from the media,” he deadpanned. “I feel like everybody has an opinion. Like buttholes. Everybody has one.”

And that line likely endeared Smith forever to his head coach, who routinely makes it clear he feels the same way.

McCarthy’s eyes popped at the utterance, but he gathered himself and leaned into the mic as the room was still doubled over.

“That was awesome,” McCarthy gushed.

For all the ranting and raving at the pick when it was first made, it’s actually easy to see why the Cowboys front office fell in love with Smith.

The feeling is clearly mutual.

“Wow, I’m really a Dallas Cowboy,” Smith marveled. “It’s the biggest blessing I’ve ever had in my life. I’m going to make the most of it.”

One press conference in, he’s off to a great start.

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