INGLEWOOD, Calif. — A lifelong dream was realized by Tyler Guyton on Sunday, Aug. 11 at SoFi Stadium, when he officially took the field for the first time against an NFL opponent as a member of the Dallas Cowboys, the rookie first-round pick battling through the back end of an illness to take on the Los Angeles Rams in the preseason opener.
Guyton missed the previous several practices as he fought his way back to full health, which he's still doing this week.
"I'm feeling good," he said after Sunday's matchup. "I'm working my way back."
Guyton outright refused to let his own body get in the way of something he's been manifesting in his mind since he was a young boy in ATX (Austin, TX and its surrounding area that includes Manor, where he attended high school).
He mounted up and rode against the Rams.
"Amazing, a dream come true," he said of the first of many games he'll play in a Cowboys' uniform. "I've always wanted to wear the Star and finally got to do it. … I just thought about all the times I've watched the Cowboys play. It's really been years and years of me watching, and finally getting to play is super cool.
"I know that my family is super excited about it, I am super excited about it, and I just wish we would've won."
Though the Cowboys went on to lose a close 13-12 contest, seeing what Guyton was able to do at SoFi, and not being 100 percent healthy, has to count as major victory when it comes to their justification for calling upon him during the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Operating on a pitch count, Guyton logged only 21 snaps (33%) on Sunday, but he made an impact on nearly every single one of them, also unaffected by crowd noise on the road.
After all, a product of TCU and then ultimately Oklahoma, insanely loud rival crowd noise is something he's grown accustomed to.
"It's like a head start," Guyton said of his collegiate programs also preparing him for NFL stadiums.
One play in particular of Guyton's jumps off of the film, though.
On the Cowboys' second drive of the game, he sprang quarterback Trey Lance for a 19-yard run for a third-down conversion by throwing the defensive end out of the club — literally walking him five yards toward the right side of the offensive line to clear a path for Lance on the left, as one example.
It didn't appear the speed of the NFL was too much for him at all.
"We do a great job of going a lot faster than that, so this was a lot easier than that," he said.
It all leaves one to imagine what Guyton might do when he's not being physically held down by a virus.
"I think I did pretty good and handled my business," said Guyton. "It was a workout, of course, but I got the butterflies out [on the] first play. The first time I hit somebody."
One thing that helped him power through, to his own admission, was seeing the other offensive linemen giving their all in Inglewood.
"I love every guy in the room and I love their physicality," he explained. "They're playing for the name on the front and the back of their jersey, and we're playing for each other. Seeing my brothers go out there fighting and battling every play — gives me energy."
Given how quickly he's reacclimated to left tackle, his summer dedication to doing so, and his performance in training camp and the preseason opener, you can be the Cowboys feel the same way.
Guyton is giving them energy.
