From 1982 to 2010, the Dallas Cowboys by no means took an offensive lineman within the first spherical of the draft, and plenty of draftniks on the time believed this was an iron rule. However then the Cowboys went out and drafted Tyron Smith, and added two extra first-round offensive linemen over the subsequent three years.
After which they did it once more between 2022 and 2025, drafting three offensive linemen within the first spherical. And in consequence, the Cowboys now have one of many youngest offensive traces within the league.
When the Cowboys kick off the 2026 season on September 14th, this can probably be the Cowboys’ beginning line-up:
Tyler Guyton (25) – Tyler Smith (25) – Cooper Beebe (25) – Tyler Booker (22) – Terence Steele (29)
This lineup may have a mean age of 25.5 years (or 127.7 mixed years) on opening day, which makes that lineup the fourth-youngest offensive line within the NFL this season.
As a normal rule, you need your offensive line (like some other place) to be youthful reasonably than older, as a result of as gamers turn out to be older, the chance of harm will increase exponentially and efficiency usually declines immediately.
There’s a broadly held perception (“wrong side of 30”) that for NFL gamers, decline inevitably units in at age 30, and the information appears to help that.
The graph beneath exhibits the age distribution of the 160 projected offensive line starters for the 2026 season. The information for all 32 NFL groups is taken from the Ourlads.com staff depth charts (that are normally fairly correct) from 5/22/25.
As you’ll be able to see, the air will get progressively thinner past 30 years of age. There’s an apparent peak between 25 and 29 years of age, however after 30, the curve begins to flatten out. 30 will not be a tough cut-off level, however the pattern is just not your good friend should you’re over 30 within the NFL. Three linemen are presently projected as starters in 2026 who’ll be 35 years or older on opening weekend 2026
Trent Williams, 38, 49ersLane Johnson, 36, Eagles,Morgan Moses, 35, Patriots
However these guys are the exception, not the rule.
Right here’s how all NFL groups evaluate in common offensive line age on opening day 2026, primarily based on the Ourlads.com depth charts.
Rank
Staff
Avg. Age
Rank
Staff
Avg. Age
Rank
Staff
Avg. Age
1
MIA
25.2
12
GB
26.6
23
LAR
28.3
2
PIT
25.3
13
IND
26.7
24
ARI
28.4
3
NYJ
25.4
14
TEN
27.2
25
CIN
28.4
4
DAL
25.5
15
TB
27.2
26
BUF
28.7
5
KC
26.1
16
NE
27.4
27
CHI
28.9
6
DET
26.2
17
NYG
27.4
28
CAR
29.1
7
LV
26.2
18
HOU
27.5
29
PHI
29.4
8
LAC
26.3
19
CLE
27.6
30
ATL
29.7
9
SEA
26.5
20
JAC
27.7
31
SF
30.3
10
NO
26.5
21
WAS
28.1
32
DEN
30.5
11
BAL
26.6
22
MIN
28.1
ESPN’s John Clayton defined in his “Theory of 150” that if the mixed age of your beginning offensive line exceeds 150 years (or a 30.0 common), it is best to anticipate a decline in efficiency.
If a staff lets its beginning offensive line exceed the full age of 150 years for 5 starters, the clock is ticking on its remaining success.
Making use of Clayton’s rule doesn’t bode nicely for the groups on the backside of this desk. Not solely are the gamers on their traces older, most likely extra vulnerable to accidents, and presumably going through a powerful decline in efficiency, in addition they price a ton.
We all know after all that the wage cap is a fungible factor that doesn’t at all times present the true price of a participant, however should you have a look at the underside 5 groups within the desk above, 4 out of 5 rank within the prime 10 of cap spend on the offensive line:
32. Denver: $78 million (2nd within the NFL)31. San Francisco: $47.7 (twenty first)30. Atlanta: $71.2 million (fifth)29. Philadelphia: $65.6 million (eighth)28. Carolina: $100.5 million (1st)
The Cowboys, thanks principally to having three starters nonetheless on their rookie contract, rank twenty fourth with $45.3 dedicated to their O-line.
Some keen beavers in Eagles or Broncos jerseys are hyperventilating proper now and can attempt to inform everyone inside attain that their groups are returning the very same starters from final season, and that continuity is rather more vital than youth.
However the Cowboys are additionally returning all 5 starters from final, and doing it at a a lot decrease common age. Tampa Bay can be returning all 5 starters, in order that’s simply 4 groups in complete which might be sustaining personnel continuity (11 groups are returning 4 starters).
Nevertheless, because the Cowboys discovered the exhausting method final yr, continuity on paper could be very completely different than continuity on the sphere. Final yr, the beginning 5 Cowboys linemen solely performed 24% of all snaps collectively as accidents to their starters compelled the Cowboys into an uncommonly excessive quantity of personnel adjustments alongside the offensive line, leaving them with one of many least secure traces within the NFL. Right here’s a visualization of these adjustments week by week.
Cowboys O-Line Starters by Week, 2025
1-2
3
4
5
6
7-8
9-12
13-15
16-17
18
LT
Guyton
Guyton
Guyton
Thomas
Guyton
Guyton
Guyton
Thomas
T. Smith
T. Smith
LG
T. Smith
T. Smith
T. Smith
Adeniji
T. Smith
T. Smith
T. Smith
T. Smith
Bass
Hoffman
C
Beebe
Hoffman
Hoffman
Hoffman
Hoffman
Hoffman
Beebe
Beebe
Beebe
Beebe
RG
Booker
Booker
Bass
Bass
Bass
Booker
Booker
Booker
Booker
Booker
RT
Steele
Steele
Steele
Steele
Steele
Steele
Steele
Steele
Steele
Steele
Continuity is likely one of the most important elements to O-line success. The most effective offensive traces aren’t essentially these with the very best athletes or the highest-paid gamers, it’s the traces that play most successfully collectively. Familiarity with one another and taking part in collectively lengthy sufficient offers linemen a greater really feel for one another, permitting them to anticipate what their fellow lineman goes to do when selecting up stunts or passing a defensive lineman to the man subsequent to them. As continuity declines, scoring tends to say no and false begin penalties are likely to go up.
The straw that stirs the drink
Heading into final season, no person anticipated this iteration of the Cowboys offensive line to be the second coming of the Nice Wall of Dallas. However the Cowboys did enter the season anticipating respectable line play, on condition that it featured three first-rounders – even when one in every of them was a rookie. And the hope was that with a while collectively to develop continuity and with sturdy teaching, the unit may maybe flip into , possibly even an excellent line. However accidents led to a scarcity of continuity that repeatedly threw the whole line out of whack.
This lack of continuity could have impacted the O-line’s efficiency in 2025 greater than is broadly acknowledged, and if nothing else, it offers some purpose for optimism for 2026.
When the Cowboys determined to “get young” in 2010, it took them 4 years to place collectively the spine of their line (‘11 Tyron Smith, ‘13 Travis Frederick, ‘14 Zack Martin). They’re on the identical tempo with the three Tylers (‘22 Smith, ‘24 Guyton, ‘25 Booker).
A bit extra well being, a bit extra continuity, and the O-line will be the straw that stirs the drink in Dallas this yr.
Can the Cowboys repeat what they began 15 years in the past and as soon as once more translate one of many youngest offensive traces within the NFL into some of the dominant offensive traces within the league?
