OXNARD, Calif. — The Dallas Cowboys are still shuffling tackles this late in camp. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Tuesday that Nate Thomas is working at right tackle and rookie Drew Shelton at left tackle. Terence Steele has to clean up a stretch of practices where he has been getting beaten around the edge.
Tyler Guyton has run with the ones at left tackle, though Schottenheimer stopped short of naming him the starter earlier this month and said Thomas needed to raise his level to make it a real competition. Both linemen drew false starts in one camp practice and were pulled for a play.
“I mean, these guys have to be able to swing,” Schottenheimer said. “And so we want to give Nate a chance to work over there, right tackle. T. Steele’s got to play a little bit more consistent. He has had a couple days where he’s been a little bit dropping his pads and getting edged a little bit. He needs to [be] better. And we want to see Drew Shelton play left tackle. So that’s not the only position. That’s the only one you guys asked me about, so that’s the only one I’m going to speak to.”
Terence Steele At Right Tackle
Steele is in his seventh season since arriving from Texas Tech as an undrafted free agent, and he has started 90 games at right tackle. Dallas gave him a five-year, $86.8 million extension in 2023. The front office restructured that deal this offseason instead of releasing him, dropping his 2026 salary to the veteran minimum and converting the rest into guaranteed bonuses. Pro Football Focus charged him with 93 pressures and 15 sacks allowed over the past two seasons.
Durability has not been the issue. Steele has started every game over the past three years, going back to the ACL tear that ended his 2022 season in December.
“It’s huge,” Steele said of the physicality the line is chasing. “You know, especially for us in the trenches, O-line, D-line, you know, physicality. That’s the name of the game.”
Nate Thomas And Drew Shelton In The Tackle Rotation
Rams edge rusher Byron Young gave the Cowboys trouble early in the Aug. 11 joint practice in Woodland Hills, which was the first look this camp at the group against another front. Dallas had spent the spring running Shelton with the second-team left tackles while Thomas took reps on the right side, an arrangement in place since minicamp.
Thomas went 233rd overall in 2024 and spent his rookie year on injured reserve. He played all 17 games last season with four starts and 342 snaps. Shelton, the fourth-round pick at No. 112 in April, started 34 games at left tackle for Penn State and allowed 1 sack on 359 pass-blocking snaps as a senior.
Dallas plays at the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday at 9 p.m. CT, with the preseason finale against the New Orleans Saints on Aug. 28 at AT&T Stadium.
