Longtime NFL left tackle Tyron Smith is retiring, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Smith will sign a one-day contract to retire as a Cowboy, the team for which he played for 13 years before finishing his career with the Jets in 2024.
Smith will retire as one of the best offensive tackles of his generation with two selections as a first-team All-Pro and eight as a Pro Bowler. He was originally the ninth overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft after playing college football at USC. Smith started all 16 games at right tackle as a rookie in Dallas before switching to the left side in 2012. He was named to seven straight Pro Bowls from 2013 to 2019, starting 100 games at left tackle for the Cowboys in that span.
Injuries plagued Smith throughout the second half of his career. He didn’t start more than 13 games in a season after 2015 and only played in 17 games from 2020 to 2022 due to neck, ankle, and hamstring injuries. When healthy, he was still one of the best left tackles in the league, earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2021 and a second-team All-Pro selection in 2023, his last year in Dallas. That rebound came after Smith had earned All-Decade acclaim for the 2010s.
Smith then signed with the Jets in 2024, starting their first 10 games at left tackle before a season-ending neck injury landed him on injured reserve. He said that he was considering retirement after the season, a decision confirmed by today’s news. Smith will leave a $5.8MM dead cap hit on the Jets’ 2025 salary cap, per OverTheCap.
The Jets already have a replacement for Smith on their roster in 2024 first-round pick Olu Fashanu. He took over for Smith in Week 10 last season and started the next five games at left tackle before a bout of plantar fasciitis sidelined him for the last two games of the year. However, the Jets have little experienced depth at offensive tackle and will likely need to invest in the position before the start of the 2025 season.
The Cowboys have scheduled a press conference on Wednesday for Smith to formally announce his retirement, per Jon Machota of The Athletic. He is the second longtime Cowboys offensive lineman to retire this offseason; Smith’s former teammate, right guard Zack Martin, retired in February.
Smith, 34, will walk away having earned more than $124MM over the course of his career. Much of that came from the mammoth extension Smith signed when first eligible (2014). The Cowboys managed to lock down the Hall of Fame-level talent for 10 years — via an eight-year, $97.6MM extension being tacked onto his five-year rookie contract — and held Smith to that. Injuries played a key role in Smith being unable to land a lucrative third contract, but he became the rare player in NFL history to play out an eight-year contract.