Where To Put Tyron Smith?

With the selection of USC tackle Tyron Smith in the first round of last month’s draft, the Dallas Cowboys have a decision to make: on which side of the offensive line should the 20-year-old Smith play--right or left?

"I think we have to work that out," said offensive line coach Hudson Houck, per the Dallas Morning News. "I think we have to look at it and see. Free has proven he can play well on the left side and [Smith] has been on the right side. We could switch them very easily. That's a possibility."

Jason Garrett was similarly open to the potential options that the acquisition of Smith brings in a recent interview with Mike Florio, of Pro Football Talk Live fame. Garrett, like Houck, believes that Smith can flourish on either side, but will use the coming months to decide which alignment will best serve the Cowboys in his first full season as head coach.

"We feel like he's certainly has the attributes and traits to be a left tackle in this league," Garrett said. "His experience at USC over the last couple of years has been as a right tackle and we feel great about how Doug Free played for us at left tackle last year. So, he's a young guy. There's been discussion about plugging him in on the right side and just letting him do that and get himself acclimated to the transition he'll have to make to the NFL.

"Like we do with all of our lineman throughout training camp, we try to put them in different spots and to see how they feel in different stances, how they feel making the different blocks, and how the combinations of the offensive line work together. He'll have equal opportunity at both sides. We'll just see how it plays out."

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