DeMarcus Ware: Cowboys' Tyron Smith is NFL's best tackle
Denver Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware says his former teammate, offensive tackle Tyron Smith, is the NFL’s best linemen and that he's glad he doesn’t have to face him this season.
Ware spent his first nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and left for Denver after signing a three-year, $30 million contract this offseason.
“I don’t even want to see Tyron,” Ware said to ESPN.com. “He’s big time now. He’s big boy now.”
Smith has started all 47 games he has played since being drafted in the first round of the 2011 draft. Last season, he allowed only one sack in his 16 starts, earning his first Pro Bowl berth. The Cowboys signed Smith to an eight-year, $98 million extension this offseason.
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Ware says he recognized the potential in Smith from the first time he saw him.
“He looked at me and I said, ‘If you’re that guy that can shut each one of those guys down and make them quit the first quarter, I promise you they’ll stop coming,’” Ware said. “From that point on, he’s been like that since the first quarter, trying to kill people. I see the guys quit.”
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