If you’re familiar with musical chairs, then you should know, that the Dallas Cowboys have been playing that game on the offensive line throughout the 2025 season.

The most recent and likely biggest shift up front occurred just moments before the team’s Week 16 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, when the coaching staff moved Tyler Smith from guard to left tackle.

Smith started in place of backup Nate Thomas, who has been the team’s swing tackle this year, and has been filling in for starter Tyler Guyton, who suffered a high ankle sprain during the team’s 24-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles and was later placed on injured reserve in December.

Smith went on to start again at tackle during the team’s 30-23 Christmas Day win over the Washington Commanders and will close out the season as the blindside protector when Dallas battles New York in their Week 18 season finale.

Now, the question that has come to mind, even while this is currently temporary, is whether the standout guard is actually an option to be the team’s next left tackle.

“I think that in watching him right now, he’s certainly an option out there,” offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said on Thursday. “But I think you would want to get to the point, and we’re not there yet because it’s only a couple of games, where you feel like he’s playing just as good or better at tackle than he has at guard, right? Because then you can really apply value with it.”

In the two-game stretch since moving over, Smith has allowed five pressures, four of which were in one game, but just one sack, which was during the Washington game, per Pro Football Focus.

The move midseason wasn’t the first for Smith; the Cowboys had him start at left tackle as a rookie in 2022, after the team lost former All-Pro tackle Tyron Smith to a hamstring avulsion and a knee injury during that year’s training camp that caused the future hall of famer to miss 13 games.

The younger Smith went on to start 16 games at left tackle before moving back to guard for the final game of the season, and went on to make the PFWA All-Rookie Team.

“You know, he’s an unbelievable talent, and I didn’t have any experience watching him play tackle in my time here, so it was a pure evaluation for me,” Adams said. “I think that he’s done really well. I think the thing that we’ve got to decide when you get to the offseason is, number one, what’s the best thing for the team. So how do you put the best five guys out there? And then number two, is it also going to be the right thing for him and his career with us, because obviously we feel like he’s going to be a guy that’s here. So I don’t know the answers to that question.

“I think the way that I’ve been kind of articulating it is, the guy is so strong. I mean, he has freakish strength, and when you’re applying that to a defensive end in the run game, there’s also something that’s a little bit different.”

Smith was asked last month, in the midst of the switch, where he would prefer to line up.

“I’m an All-Pro guard, bro that’s the simple truth,” Smith said. “If we’re just looking at stuff purely off facts,” Smith said. “So we’ll see what happens, we’ll have those conversations when we have those conversations and kind of see where everybody’s head is at.”

Dallas paid him like one, too.

Smith signed a four-year, $96 million extension back in September, which made him the highest paid guard in the NFL.

The Cowboys will have plenty to sort through along their offensive front in the spring.

If they truly believe Smith can hold up on the edge, do they slide Guyton to right tackle, a spot that’s been shaky, potentially putting veteran Terence Steele, a possible cap casualty this offseason, on the bubble?

If that’s the route they take, does T.J. Bass, who will be a UFA and has played 48 games with 10 starts under his belt in three seasons, return to step into the starting job at left guard, or do the Cowboys still look to add help through free agency or the draft as competition?

And even if Dallas keeps Smith at guard, moves on from Steele, and slides Guyton to the right side, that also opens another subject of staring at the reality of spending another premium pick on the left side, even with glaring needs on defense, unless again a quality name is a free agent, which is rare in the offensive line.

One way or another, a resolution will have to be reached.

 “It’ll all be part of the evaluation moving forward,” Adams added. “I do think he’s played a little better each game, and I expect him to play as well as he can against a really good front.”

In the case of Smith, as the saying goes, “maybe it’s best not fix what’s not broken.”