Cowboys Lose All-Pro Guard Tyler Smith, 49ers Lose Sam Okuayinonu Ahead of NFL Week 1

Cowboys Down Their Best Blocker Before Kickoff

Dallas Cowboys All-Pro left guard Tyler Smith is scheduled for thumb surgery Tuesday and will land on injured reserve, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. That means he'll miss at least the first four games of the season, with the team estimating a 4-to-6-week recovery.

Smith is not a replaceable part. The 2022 first-round pick has made three straight Pro Bowls and earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2023. Last season he posted a 73.5 overall PFF grade, 15th among 81 qualifying guards, and an 81.1 run-block grade that ranked fifth in the league. He's missed just five games in four NFL seasons.

TJ Bass takes over at left guard while Smith recovers. This creates a meaningful gap in front of Dak Prescott, who threw for 4,552 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season while completing 67.3% of his passes. Prescott's mobility has declined in recent years due to injury, meaning he'll need clean protection to replicate that efficiency.

Head coach Brian Schottenheimer went 7-9-1 in his first season running Dallas and rebuilt the defense this offseason while keeping the offensive core, including CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens at receiver, intact. The Cowboys open the season on the road against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, and now they'll do it without their best lineman up front.

49ers Lose Depth Piece, But Get Good News on Kittle and Bosa

Across the country, the San Francisco 49ers dealt with their own pre-opener injury news, but the overall picture was less dire than Dallas's.

Defensive end Sam Okuayinonu did not travel with the team to Australia for Thursday's season opener against the Los Angeles Rams because of a foot injury, according to Yahoo Sports. San Francisco has since placed him on injured reserve, ruling him out for at least four games. Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston reported the 49ers filled the roster spot by signing Jon Weeks and elevating Khalid Kareem from the practice squad.

Okuayinonu was a bigger part of the 2025 defense than expected, starting 12 of 15 games he played and recording 39 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble as injuries piled up across the roster. With Nick Bosa healthy, Okuayinonu was projected for a reduced role anyway, but losing him to IR still thins out a defensive end group already managing Mykel Williams's absence. Williams is on the physically unable to perform list and will miss six games, according to Sports Illustrated.

Tight end George Kittle continues progressing from the torn Achilles he suffered in the wild-card round of last season's playoffs. Ian Rapoport of ESPN and NFL Network reported September 2 that Kittle will travel with the team to Australia. San Francisco waived tight end Brayden Willis over the weekend, a roster move that typically signals a spot opening up for a returning player.

Kittle has called his own recovery a "best-case scenario" tear because of its clean, high placement, and said back in January he expected to return "well before November." Matt Barrows of The Athletic reported that even if Kittle plays Thursday, he likely won't approach his usual 95% snap share right away. Achilles tears typically sideline NFL players nine to 11 months. Kittle is on pace to beat that timeline by a wide margin if he suits up roughly eight months after the injury.

Nick Bosa, recovering from an ACL tear, was medically cleared at the start of training camp. Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters Monday the team is managing Bosa's workload around tendinitis in his surgically repaired knee rather than addressing any new setback. "I think it was that at first, but now it's more of just being smart," Shanahan said, adding the team is spacing Bosa's and Kittle's practice reps across three sessions before the flight to Australia so neither player takes three straight days of work.

What's Still Unresolved

San Francisco's defensive turnover goes beyond the injury report. New defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is leaning on a pass rush built around a recovering Bosa, Patriots castoff Keion White and rookie Romello Height, according to Sports Illustrated. The interior line rotates second-year players Alfred Collins and CJ West with rookies Gracen Halton and James Thompson. Whether that group holds up without Okuayinonu will be tested immediately: the 49ers open Thursday against a Rams team built to attack a defense still sorting out its depth chart.

Dallas faces its own test of depth right away too. TJ Bass steps in at left guard, and he'll be protecting Prescott against a Giants front to open Dallas's push to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2023.