Brian Schottenheimer Clarifies Misunderstanding About Cowboys Left Tackle Announcement

When head coach Brian Schottenheimer made an announcement about the Dallas Cowboys' left tackle situation at training camp, many construed that as the team had made a decision.

During the spring, Schottenheimer told reporters that there would be a competition between Tyler Guyton and Nate Thomas at left tackle, and he also said that the team would have a four-practice rotation at the position earlier in camp.

But, on Tuesday, Schottenheimer told reporters that Dallas would be keeping Guyton with the first team at left tackle for now instead of rotating Thomas in to make it an actual competition. He also lauded Guyton for his play during camp.

"We're gonna keep him at starting left tackle right now," Schotty said of Guyton. "We talked to Nate (Thomas). Nate needs to show us a little bit more consistent play to push for that. I know we told you guys about the rotation, so Tyler will stay at left tackle. Excited to see how Nate handles that challenge. Tyler's playing really, really well."

Many took that as the competition at left tackle, which wasnever much of a competition to begin withbecause Guyton had gotten all of the first team reps all offseason, is over.

But Schottenheimer clarified that is not what he meant during an appearance on 94.1 San Antonio's Sports Star and Guyton is not set in stone quite yet.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer told @SASportsStar that he didn't say that Tyler Guyton is officially the starting left tackle in his Tuesday comments, that he said Nate Thomas needs to play better to earn first-team reps in practice.

Schotty gave enormous credit…
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) August 5, 2026

"I really like what I see from Tyler right now," Schottenheimer added on Guyton.

It's not officially over, but it's over

Dallas Cowboys tackle Nate Thomas (71) during training camp at the River Ridge Fields. — Dallas Cowboys tackle Nate Thomas. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While Schottenheimer won't come out and say Guyton is the pick, the writing has been on the wall for awhile now that Thomas has been a massive longshot.

After all, Guyton dominated first-team reps throughout the spring, which was the first sign he was well on his way. Now, Guyton has dominated snaps at left tackle again in training camp and that is only strengthening the case that the battle is over before it ever actually started.

At this point, it'll take a combination of a massive 180 by Thomas and a total collapse from Guyton for the Cowboys to even consider starting the former over the latter.

While Guyton is almost certainly going to be the starter Week 1, we would not automatically assume he's safe all season.

If Guyton struggles in 2026, the Cowboys likely won't hesitate to replace him, and that replacementwould almost certainly be Tyler Smith at this point now that we know Thomas still a ways to go to earn the trust of the coaching staff. There also hasn't been any indication Drew Shelton is doing enough to get a chance to replace Guyton if he's benched.

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