Zack Martin expects to ready for training camp despite soft tissue injury

Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Zack Martin expects to ready for the start of training camp despite a soft tissue injury that has kept him out of OTAs and minicamps, he told the media Tuesday.

“I’m fine,” Martin said, via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “They’re just being smart, making sure I get to training camp feeling ready to rock.”

Martin is considered one of the best offensive guards in recent memory. The 32-year-old who played his college football at Notre Dame has played nine seasons in the NFL since being drafted with the 16th pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Cowboys RG Zack Martin said he’s been sidelined this spring with a soft tissue injury. Held back as precaution. “I’m fine. …They’re just being smart, making sure I get to training camp feeling ready to rock.”

— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) June 6, 2023

During that span, he has made eight Pro Bowls, six All-Pro first teams and two All-Pro second teams. The one season he did not make a Pro Bowl team or an All-Pro team was in 2020 when he played in just 10 games.

His six All-Pro first team selections is tied for second-most among active players with Bobby Wagner. Only Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman and fellow 2014 draftee Aaron Donald has more with seven first-team All-Pro honors.

Martin also earned a spot on the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team. He was the only guard named to the team who was also drafted during the decade.

Pro Football Focus named him the ninth-best player in professional football ahead of last season.

“Martin may be the most underrated player in the NFL,” PFF wrote. “He accrued a career-best 93.9 PFF grade last season, posting six separate PFF game grades above 90.0 during the season. He allowed 19 pressures on 688 pass-blocking snaps and has seen his performance improve in each of the past three years.”

Earlier in the offseason, Martin and Cowboys starting quarterback Dak Prescott restructured their contracts to open up more than $30 million in cap room for Dallas.

The Cowboys will enter the 2023 season once again with high expectations. Dallas has finished with a 12-5 record each of the past two seasons but fell to the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs each year.

In 2021, San Francisco beat them in the wild card round. The 49ers beat the Cowboys in the divisional round last season after Dallas had defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a wild card game in Florida.

The win over Tampa Bay was the franchise’s first playoff win since the 1992 NFC Championship Game, which was against San Francisco.

The last two seasons also marked the first time Dallas has made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since the 2006 and 2007 campaigns.