The future of the Dallas Cowboys offensive line is in solid hands because of this guy

On the chance her son would be selected in the NFL Draft, which immediately translates into big money, Patricia Smith told her son that she had no interest in quitting her job the next day.

Or the next year. Or the next several years.

“I still go to work every day,” Patricia Smith said. “I have my own career.”

Her son is Tyler Smith, the first round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2022 who became a starting offensive lineman almost immediately.

She moved to Fort Worth from Shreveport, La. in 1999. After earning her master’s degree from TCU, she went to work for the Fort Worth Independent School District where she currently serves as a curriculum coordinator.

“I want to retire on my own when I am ready. He has told me I can retire, but I made it known to him that I will continue to work. I like my own independence,” she said. “I have been running my own show for a long time, and I want to finish it out on my own.”

That day will come soon enough. She figures in about seven years, when she hits the 25-year mark at FWISD.

Tyler could not retire his mother, but earlier this year he did buy her a new house, in Fort Worth.

The Cowboys begin training camp on Tuesday in Oxnard, Calif. with the usual load of question marks all over the roster; there is no such punctuation over the second-year man who played at North Crowley high school.

The Cowboys hit on picking Smith, who one day soon enough will be the anchor to this team’s offensive line. He is arguably their second-best lineman, behind future Hall of Famer Zack Martin.

All of his was Tyler’s dream, not his mother’s. His mother is there to help make the dream possible.

Tyler Smith is a success, but he is not self made. No one who “makes it” is. He had, and has, help starting with a mom who embraces her transition to supporting player in the Tyler Smith story.

“It’s been a privilege to be able to do this; not every parent has the opportunity to be on this ride,” she said during an interview in late June as she helped her son with a youth football camp, held at Crowley ISD’s football stadium.

“I don’t take this lightly at all. I enjoy him making the space for me and saying, ‘Mom, I want you on this journey.’ He could easily change his mind and say he doesn’t. He’s a grown man and he makes decisions for himself. I am grateful to be alive to witness it, and secondly to be asked to be a part of the journey and his life.”

This journey began in earnest when Tyler was in the eighth grade. Patricia was out of town, and Tyler was staying with a family friend who took him to a pee-wee football camp.

Tyler was good at football, and he knew it.

By the end of his first season in the eighth grade, he told his mom his dream was to play in the NFL.

“OK,” she told her son, “then that’s what we will do.”

She didn’t know exactly what “that’s what we will do” covered. Practices. Games. Weight training. Eating. Making sure his grades were up. College choices.

As a single mom, she just knew that it was her role to support her son; to help him pursue whatever he wanted to do.

This does not mean the path was without pebbles, or rocks. Maybe the random boulder.

Tyler was a big kid, and he knew he was bigger than his peers. He was self conscious about his size, but his mom made sure it was never a problem.

“I learned to have confidence in who I was. It was my upbringing. It was my mom,” Tyler said. “As I grew up, and I fell into my lane. Growing up you can always feel out of place, if you don’t have the same shoes as somebody else.

“Maybe your parents don’t have as much money as somebody else. Finding your lane, and finding what makes you happy. For me, football was my outlet. Track and field was my outlet. That’s how I became comfortable who I was.”

Football. Shot put. Discus. Tyler Smith actually ran the 400 meters (his coach didn’t give him a choice).

These are the activities that gave Tyler Smith his identity, and confidence.

“When he was in high school and he’d fall behind in his work, you’d have to get on him about that,” she said. “I never had to say anything about football practice. That was his passion. He was on there on time, every time.

“At 16 or 17, they think they know everything anyways, but you do have to tell them for them to get to see it.”

Tyler’s goal was to attend college on an athletic scholarship. He didn’t want to burden his mom with another bill.

Patricia knew a little about football, but some of the specifics were a little vague. She didn’t know what “getting to the NFL” exactly entails.

When Tyler was a freshman at the University of Tulsa, an assistant coach told Patricia that her son was good enough to play in the NFL. That he had everything necessary to make it.

“When I heard that I thought, ‘Wow,’ ” she said.

Tyler Smith made it to the NFL, and the Dallas Cowboys, because he’s good.

He’s not good without his mom.