FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys' shiny, new left tackle, Oklahoma's Tyler Guyton arrived at the team facility in style after owner and general manager Jerry Jones sent a private jet to pick up Guyton and his family from the Austin area. Ever since he stepped foot inside The Star, Dallas' team headquarters, the lifelong Cowboys fan couldn't stop pinching himself.
"Being here is life changing," Guyton said at his introductory presser on Friday. "It's a dream come true, honestly. I wanted to put the star on my helmet since I was playing football. It was always a life long dream for me, and now it's finally here. I can't put into words how excited I am for it."
Once he visited the team's warehouse where he was as able to see the Cowboys print his first jersey, Guyton and all of the family and friends he brought with him put the jerseys on and didn't take them off. They all showed up to the press conference rocking his No. 60.
"First off, I've never been on a private jet of course, so it was extremely nice. I would love to do it again. I loved seeing my jersey made," Guyton said. "I had to put it on. I'm not going to take it off. Neither is my family. That should tell you all you need to know. We're going to wear this until we can't anymore. We're Cowboys for life."
While Guyton has been a diehard Cowboys fan his entire life, offensive line was his position for most of his life.
"I've been playing football my whole life," Guyton said. "I played football from peewee all the way up to high school. I played running back, quarterback, defensive tackle, and I played a little bit of tight end. When I got to high school I thought I was a basketball player."
Certainly makes sense considering Guyton is 6 feet, 8 inches and gets that height from his maternal grand father (also 6-8) and his paternal great-grandfather (6-9).
"Honestly, I did," Guyton said. "I went out for tryouts my freshman year in basketball, and I tried to dunk on somebody and tore my knee up. I had to sit down for a year. Being that young and dealing with injuries and trials and tribulations. ... Coming back from that was definitely a process, but once I transferred my senior year to play basketball somewhere else, I was getting recruited by the football coaches. They were telling me to come play, and I just went and tried it."
Guyton played just one year of high school football, which led to only one offer at the collegiate level: TCU. He transferred to Oklahoma after his sophomore year following head coach Gary Patterson's resignations/firing (depending on who you ask). Despite Guyton having just one start at left tackle in college, their season opener against University of Texas El Paso, he feels he is more comfortable at left tackle. He 13 of his 14 starts at Oklahoma game at right tackle protecting left-handed quarterback Dillon Gabriel's blindside.
"Just refining my technique. Repetition. Over and over, and doing it so much that I can't get it wrong," Guyton said of what it will take for him to have a successful switch from right tackle to left tackle. "It's just switching your footwork, switching your hands and your technique and flipping the plays in your mind. I've been playing left tackle since I got into college, and I actually feel like I'm better at left tackle and I'm more comfortable there. I feel like the switch is pretty easy."
Fortunately for Guyton, one of his top attributes is his quick feet, something he transferred over from playing basketball. That trait is certainly applicable at either tackle spot.
"I would definitely say my feet translated over," Guyton said. "I think I have some quick feet, and I'm light on my toes. Playing defense in the paint definitely helped with that."
What will also help is joining an offensive line room with multiple Pro Bowlers: nine-time Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin and 2023 Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith. Each of the previous first-round offensive linemen Jones has selected has earned a Pro Bowl nod.
"I think it's motivation," Guyton said of the Pro Bowl streak for first-round Cowboys offensive linemen. "It's a goal to reach, and it's achievable. I feel like I can do it, and that's what I want for myself. That's what this team, and my whole family wants. That's the goal. ... I'm going to be able to pick the brain of some guys I watched play football at the highest level and for my favorite team. I already texted Zack Martin, and we already chopped it up for a second. I can't wait to sit next to him and just talk to him about life and anything I need to ask about the NFL. I feel like he's going to give you a good answer, and that's all I can ask for in a teammate in the locker room."
When he and his family walked onto the team's practice field just down the hall from the locker room, Guyton's father Alvin laid on the star and gave it a kiss.
https://t.co/gnuVmedD1O pic.twitter.com/DDUIduZyx6
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) April 26, 2024
Between Guyton's and his family's fandom, Jones has never seen a player more thrilled to represent his team. That's something he views as an absolute bonus.
"Huge bonus. I didn't realize until you walked up. … I don't think we've ever had a player as emotionally proud to be [a Cowboy] as Tyler was down there when we were walking around and did this with the jerseys and did those kind of things," Jones said Friday. "So you're talking about someone that has really spent a lot of time, coming home, this is it. He has. Those are bonuses. That's a major plus. Cowboys, you have to stand in the line, the Cowboys have been great to several people, and I'm right at the top of the list of what the Cowboys can do for you. … I think he's got that kind of expectation background of folks that think it through, achieve and understand this opportunity. We had a little visit about that, and we can change everybody's life here. That's no smoke. He really can. It's going to have a big serious, serious intent and focus to get it done. With his skill, if he wants it that bad, then this is exciting."
Just as exciting for the front office is their ability to land their guy in Guyton while trading back five spots and acquiring an extra third-round pick, arming them with three picks on Day 2 (Rounds 2 and three of the 2024 NFL Draft).
"Obviously I want to carry this forward," Jones said. "Stephen [Jones] actually said to me on the way out the door last night, he said 'I don't think I've ever felt as good about the first day [of the draft].' That says a lot from our standpoint. To get a player that has this upside and has the fundamentals with it and to do that at such a position of need, a premiere position of need in all of football. To get to start with that and end up having gotten another player at an outstanding pick. We got a chance to get an outstanding player. So we spent the pick and ended up with another one that is we hope we'll make something out of it with the player there. That's almost too much. So, I feel great about it. The middle of this draft really looks good and has all the way through. That's where we are now with these three picks today. We're going to get him some teammates that he [Guyton] can go to the house with."
