Schottenheimer is conducting exit interviews with his players on Monday and Tuesday this week before turning to his coaching staff on Wednesday and Thursday. Smith already has an idea of what he’ll say in his meeting with the head coach.
“I do have some thoughts on my mind that I’m going to share with him, and of course I think he has some thoughts on it as well,” Smith said. “So we’ll see what comes of that conversation, but we haven’t spoken about it yet.”
Smith didn’t reveal all of his thoughts on the situation, but one thing that he said was “extremely huge” to him in the decision-making process is comfortability at the position he’s set to play. In his career, Smith has played 2,747 career snaps at left guard compared to 1,272 at left tackle.
“The way you build comfort is through reps,” Smith said. “And right now, I made a lot of money playing offensive guard. That’s what it is. I have the most reps I have in the NFL at offensive guard, so obviously I’m more comfortable there. It’s a matter of conversation, I feel like I just need to know.”
“This year, it was kind of injuries, guys were up and down, so of course I made that move for the team. But we’re going to kind of find out what the grand scheme of things is going to be, and it might give a conversation that carries on for longer than just today.”
With the offseason starting, the sooner the two sides can get on the same page for the future is the sooner that Smith can begin preparing how he’ll approach the offseason as well. Smith is hoping to come to a solution that benefits everyone.
“We’ll talk about it. You have to show them what your mindset is. At the same time, it’s about my success and my career as well as this team’s success,” Smith said. “That’s the biggest thing for me, it’s like, what’s best for the team, but also what’s smart for me in my career.”
When asked about the decision ahead of Dallas’ Week 18 game against the Giants, Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones sounded pleased with how Smith looked protecting Dak Prescott’s blind spot.
“The fact that we called on him for where we are does show, to me it showed one thing for sure: He should play the position,” Jones said. “It didn’t surprise me when Larry Allen moved out there and made All-Pro either. But the bottom line is I’m glad we’ve got that position flex with him.”
