EXCLUSIVE: Cowboys injured Tyron Smith tells SI.com: 'Cam Fleming will be more than fine'
DALLAS - Tyron Smith is wearing no walking boot - but is wearing a wide smile. Maybe, as the Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl left tackle pauses for a midweek visit with me, that's because he has confidence in the rehab of his ankle. Or maybe it's because he has confidence in the man who will temporarily replace him at left tackle.
"Yes, I'm making myself totally available to him,'' Tyron says when I bring up the subject of playing "teacher and pupil'' with Cameron Fleming, who will step in for Smith this Sunday when the 3-1 Green Bay Packers visit his 3-1 Cowboys. "I always want to help out.''
I'm reminded of a Cowboys tradition that Smith exists very much in the middle of. When he arrived here as a very young first-round pick in 2011, he would find himself often getting schooled by veteran star pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware on the Oxnard training camp field by day ... and then being invited to Ware's hotel room at night for film study, the coyote showing the sheepdog all of his tricks.
Since then, Tyron has returned the favor to Ware's heirs. DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory ... any Cowboys pass-rusher who wants to learn how Tyron stones the likes of them ... he'll openly show them and help them.
So, Tyron, it works that way between offensive tackles and offensive tackles, too, right?
"Yeah, we will do classroom stuff and film-study stuff,'' Smith tells me. "But I don't know how much Cam needs that from me. He'll be more than fine.''
This can especially be true if Fleming doesn't get over-exposed. A brief plug-in for Smith, and then Tyron returns, maybe as soon as Week 6, and Fleming will have earned his keep.
Fleming replaced Smith for the rest of the game in New Orleans, and the Cowboys quickly dissolved any debate about his role: Fleming - a part-time starter during his days with the Patriots who was re-signed to a two-year deal by Dallas this offseason -- is not, like is predecessor Chaz Green, a "prospect'' or a "project.''
Now, the plan absorbed a curveball on Wednesday when right tackle La'el Collins (back) couldn't practice. So left guard Connor Williams jumped out to right tackle and Xavier Su'a-Filo stepped in at left guard.
But left tackle? Fleming held it down, hopefully continuing to eliminate the memory of the organizational failure that was Green.
“That’s one of the reasons we went out and got (Fleming),” coach Jason Garrett says. “He’s a veteran player, an experienced player, and has done a good job when he’s had opportunities to play in this league and did a good job for us last year.”
The 6-6, 320-pound Fleming, 27, is a Texas native who was a 2014 fourth-round NFL Draft pick out of Stanford. And Garrett and Tyron are both correct in citing his credentials and performance.
Says Fleming, who also started in wins over the Redskins and Giants last year in place of Tyron: “I was glad I was able to help the team get a couple of wins last year. Hopefully I can do the same thing this year.”
But Tyron Smith is here to testify that Cameron Fleming is being modest, that this is more about skill and preparation than it is about "hope.''
"He's totally got it,'' Tyron says. "He's a veteran. He's been around. He's won. Believe me. He's got it.''
