Tyron Smith gives heartfelt shoutout to Dak Prescott during retirement press conference

Wednesday was an emotional one for the Dallas Cowboys. One of the franchise’s all-time best players, Tyron Smith, announced his retirement. A press conference in his honor was held at The Star in Frisco, giving Smith one final opportunity to speak as a member of the Cowboys.

Plenty of shoutouts were given by the soon-to-be Hall of Famer. But none were more heartfelt than Smith taking a few moments to speak about quarterback Dak Prescott. Their relationship goes past the football field as Smith says they are “lifelong friends.”

“I also want to recognize Dak Prescott,” Smith said. “One of the best teammates I ever had. Dak cares deeply about everyone in the locker room, and he’s more than a teammate, he’s a lifelong friend. And I’ll always have your back. You’ll always be QB1 to me.”

Smith was a first-round pick of the Cowboys back in 2011 and initially played right tackle. A successful rookie campaign saw him move over the left side and never look back. The next twelve seasons of his career were played protecting the blindside of whichever quarterback was out there.

Prescott was a rookie back in 2016 and was a teammate of Smith through the 2023 season. Eight years of No. 77 protecting No. 4, a staple connection for a lot of Cowboys fans today.

All good things must come to an end, though. Smith spent one season with the New York Jets before deciding to walk away from football. Plenty of people played a role in Smith’s storied career but based on the shoutout, Prescott is right up there.

Dallas Cowboys did not want to move on from Tyron Smith

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he did not want to move on from Smith. “You can imagine the relationship we’ve got with Tyron and how much both of us hated to do,” Jones said at the NFL Annual Meeting last year, per CBS Sports. “It was just like it was with DeMarcus Ware. We both hated it. But it just wasn’t there.”

Jones added, “You know how highly he is thought of by us. We can’t afford that. We can’t afford that. If he makes all of these incentives and things like that, we would be really wrecked.”

With Tyron Smith getting set to announce his retirement with the Cowboys he will likely be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor soon. We can also expect him to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he’s eligible in five years.

On3’s Brian Jones contributed to this report