The Dallas Cowboys always manage to have more than their fair share of major storylines in training camp, and owner Jerry Jones finds his way to the heart of them. This season, the primary headline has been Micah Parsons’ contract dispute, but an emerging story was the battle for the starting right guard spot.
The Cowboys selected Tyler Booker at No. 12 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft this spring, presumably to give the former Alabama star left guard the unenviable task of replacing future Hall of Famer Zach Martin at right guard. However, Booker was meeting more turbulence than expected in the form of Robert Jones.
Jones, a former undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee, who spent the first four years of his career with the Miami Dolphins, held the upper hand at right guard early in camp. With fellow former first-rounders Tyler Smith and Tyler Guyton locked in on the left side of the line, Jones’s play obstructed Booker’s path to playing time. Now, that path is clear.
On Monday, Adam Schefter reported that Jones will miss 2-3 months with a broken bone in his neck. The news thrusts Booker into the starting role, despite his ongoing transition from left guard to right guard.
Sources: Cowboys guard Rob Jones, who has been working with the starting unit during the early part of training camp, broke a bone in his neck during Sunday’s practice and now is expected to miss 2-3 months, per @toddarcher and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 28, 2025
Injury to Robert Jones increases pressure on Tyler Booker in rookie season
As if it wasn’t enough pressure to arrive as the heir apparent to Zach Martin, one of the best offensive guards of this century in the NFL, Booker will now have to enter his first NFL season without much of an insurance policy behind him.
It was always in Dallas’s best interest for their No. 12 overall selection to win the starting job over a free agent on a one-year deal, so Booker would have been given a significant chance to play. Still, there would have been some comfort in knowing that Jones was there to step into the role if Booker experienced growing pains.
Nearly all of Booker’s career snaps at Alabama, and every snap after his freshman season, came on the left side of the offensive line, with all but 77 of those snaps at left guard. Booker recently described playing offensive line as “doing algebra in a fist fight,” and the transition to the right side is forcing him to do it backwards.
The only silver lining to this injury is that Booker will now get all of the first-team reps through the rest of training camp, allowing him to grow more cohesive with the rest of Dallas’s talented offensive line.