FRISCO — Not many Dallas Cowboys fans expected another offensive lineman selection to start their campaign at the 2025 NFL Draft. For weeks, it seemed the Cowboys were set on assessing a skill position, namely at wide receiver.
The Cowboys instead focused on the trenches, drafting a lineman in the first round for the third time in the last four years. Alabama guard Tyler Booker is the selection, slated to take over at right guard where future Hall of Famer Zack Martin leaves behind quite the legacy.
Booker hopes to follow in that tradition.
"Me being me has gotten me this far. I would be doing me and the Cowboys a disservice if I come in and try to be those guys," he said following his selection. "I'm gonna learn from Tyron Smith, Zack Martin and the rest of the best in that room."
While maintaining that standard of excellence on the line, it is clear the Cowboys are changing their identity to revolve more around a presence in the trenches. Brian Schottenheimer has hammered that message since taking over as head coach.
His offensive coordinator Klayton Adams put it best back in February. Adams urged that he wanted to "create violence" offensively, leaving no gray area in that regard.
Booker promises to do just that with evidence to that point when looking at his tape. For two years at Alabama he showed not only an ability, but a desire to get downhill and bulldoze through his opposition.
In fact, he had that message ready for Cowboys' defensive star Micah Parsons during the Bleacher Report Draft Show.
"Football is a child's game, they get excited, so excited to play football, until they come across Tyler Booker," he said. "When I'm going after you, quarter after quarter, play after play, series after series, and I start to see that love leave their eyes, that's what makes me love the game."
That nasty edge is something the Cowboys have lacked in recent seasons, despite the brilliance of Tyler Smith and with consideration of the youth around him.
The optics of picking a lineman once again are questionable in some respects, but this was no settle here. Booker sets the tone for a new era, representing everything that Schottenheimer and Adams have preached since their arrival.
But with that excitement, there now a burden placed on the rookie's shoulders to come into the league and starting "creating violence" at the next level.
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