FRISCO, Texas — Some players fail to live up to the hype surrounding them when they reach the NFL, while others eventually do, after time passes that allows them to acclimate and adapt to the speed, power and brutality of the game. And then there's someone like Tyler Booker, a talent that falls into neither of those two categories.
The former two-time First-team All-SEC guard got the call as the first-round pick of the ݮƵ in 2025 and, despite concerns from outside of the building — not entirely unlike the ones heard about the first-round selection of eventual First-team All-Pro guard Tyler Smith — Booker is not only as advertised.
At this point, he is his own marketing agency.
"[My biggest thing was] the speed of the game," said Booker. "When I felt the game start to slow down for me was with the more reps I got, and the more I saw a certain look or a certain front, the more it all slowed down for me; and the more confident I got within myself."
In his first year, Booker took the field for a total of 631 dropbacks, the most of any rookie interior lineman, and despite an ankle injury costing him time, allowing only three sacks in 14 starts, and those numbers include six games of 40 or more dropbacks by Dak Prescott that saw Booker allow zero sacks in those contests — not to mention he was an absolute road grader in run blocking.
Suddenly, justifiable concerns regarding the post-Zack Martin era have been immediately put to bed, tucked in nicely with the lights turned out, in a fashion that forced even Tyler Smith to pick his jaw up off of the floor when watching Booker in 2025, offering up exceptional praise for the 21-year-old at the conclusion of the season.
"I think his [Year 2] jump could be astronomical, bro," said three-time Pro Bowler. "I'll be honest: he's one of the best rookies, at least in my time here, and I'm only a Year 4, but he's one of the best rookies we ever had.
"He's come in with the right mindset, each and every day, to get better, and he's truly put that into practices, game and game out. I think his Year 2 jump can be crazy, bro."
Considering Smith's rookie season, this is an incredible level of praise, and from a worthy source. Smith wasn't on the roster during Micah Parsons' rookie season, to be fair, but his point definitely stands.
Part of Booker's success is due in part to joining an offensive line anchored and led by Smith, whom he is infinitely thankful to be able to learn from, and as early as Day 1.
"That was huge, you know?" he said of being drafted to a Smith-led offensive line. "That was one of the best parts about finding out I was coming to Dallas. I was like, 'OK, there's a guy in my position that's doing it at the highest level already.' So to be able to pick his brain every day has been useful, and I'm very thankful for him, and all the other veterans in my room that help me."
Was Booker's rookie season perfect? Not at all, and that is true of every single rookie in the NFL, annually. That does mean, however, that he has to remain grounded in trying to dissect and self scout for the purposes of identifying his [few] week spots to try and eliminate them in his second NFL campaign.
The good news is that's exactly what he's already begun doing, pointing out the single most important thing he'll take away from his first season he plans to improve going forward.
"Consistency," he said. "I feel like that's my biggest thing. I'll go out there and have plays where I kind of think that I look like Tyler Smith. Then I have plays where I look like the rookie that I am, you know? So just cutting out those little rookie plays — I like to call them — and just continue to dominate and really take games over."
What will be key for Booker is to handle his first NFL offseason the right way, staying football ready while also "finding a good balance" with the need to let his body rest and recover, and he plans to lean heavily on Tyler Smith to establish that regimen as well.
There are plenty of questions the Cowboys must address at several positions on both sides of the ball over the next several months, but neither of them exist at right guard, because Booker didn't simply live up to his hype. At this point, the hype is trying to live up to him.
