FRISCO, Texas 鈥 When it came time to make their decision with the 12th-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the 抖阴视频 found themselves facing a decision that will, inevitably, impact the franchise for the next half-decade: stay put and select between Tyler Booker, add a defensive player, or trade down for more picks.
Ultimately, it was the words of new head coach Brian Schottenheimer that ended a debate that lasted nearly 30 minutes, and so it was that, much to pleasure of Schottenheimer, offensive coordinator Klayton Adams and offensive line coach Conor Riley, that it was the former First-team All-American and two-time First-team All-SEC guard out of Alabama getting the call.
It makes him, officially, the first pick of the Schottenheimer era in Dallas.
And, needless to say, Booker was equally as ecstatic, even though he convinced himself it wouldn't happen, given how narrow the window had become before his phone rang.
"I don't like disappointing myself, so I psyched myself out of it," Booker said in an exclusive interview with DallasCowboys.com en route to reporting to the team's facility on Friday. "Being the green room, people are picked two picks ahead, so Team 1 could be on the board but Team 3 could be on the phone with their guy.
"There's less than a minute left on the clock for Dallas and I was like, 'Well, this is not meant to be.' It's one the places I really wanted to be: a Dallas Cowboy. Then I got that call and I was talking to [Jerry] Jones and to the coaching staff, and it's truly a blessing. I'm so excited."
As the 21-year-old pointed out on Wednesday night, he was indeed 鈥渢he guy鈥 on the offensive line at Alabama, both as a pass protector and as one of the best run blockers in the nation, spending time at both left and right guard in the process.
Does that mean he's not looking to improve his game? Quite the contrary, actually.
Booker made it clear he understands he can't simply win at the NFL level based upon being bigger, stronger and more athletic than the guy across from him. To excel for the Cowboys as a professional, and particularly in being looked upon as the successor to the incomparable and legendary talent of Zack Martin, Booker is well aware of his opportunities for improvement.
"My footwork would be out of whack sometimes and my hands would be a little wide, and everything in this league needs to be precise," he said, humbly. "Not saying my technique was poor in college, but it'll get better. I'm being hypercritical of myself because, at the end of the day, Lord willing, I'll play for a long time. I'll get All-Pros and to Super Bowls.
"I want a gold jacket. That's my 'why'."
He went on to expound upon why that fuels him so deeply, along with the love of an extremely supportive family 鈥 several of which joined him on his flight and ride into The Star in Frisco, including his father, mother, sister, brother and longtime girlfriend, all by his side.
Booker is doing it as much for them as he is for himself as he is, now, for the Cowboys and out of respect for all that came before him, and he's looking at what Martin and Larry Allen, the latter being his favorite Cowboy of all-time, despite growing up a Steelers fan, as the standard.
"My 'why' is the opportunity to be great," said Booker. "There's not a lot of things in this life where greatness can be measured, but that's one of them. And [one way] greatness is measured by getting a gold jacket, at the end of the day."
The Connecticut native turned four-star prospect out of Central Florida turned first-round talent out of Alabama is as violent as you'll find on the football field, his lighthearted demeanor off of it serving as a deception for any opponent who might fall for it.
When asked about his violent style of play, one that he prides on using to "beat the love of the game out of the opponent on every snap", Booker wasn't hesitant to describe its roots.
It began a few years after his father put a football in his crib when he was only two hours old.
"I have always had that [violent football] demeanor," he said. "I grew up watching 'A Football Life'. It started coming out right when NFL Network came out so, everyday before school, I'd wake up at 5:30am so I could watch it. One of the first ones was Deacon Jones. He was known for his head slap. So I was doing the head slap in pee wee football.
"It was working, but then they told me to calm down. I was like, 'Why do I need to calm down? They can't stop it, so why do I have to stop?' And then watching Larry Allen, and how violent he played the game.
"鈥 I'm truly a student of the game and that's where that violence comes from."
He'll work to combine that insatiable hunger for punishing defensive lineman, something that helps him excel in run blocking (where he can attack and move forward) as much as it does in pass blocking (when he's being attacked), with studying Martin's technical precision to combine for what the Cowboys hope will be the second coming of, at minimum, left guard Tyler Smith 鈥 their other former-first round pick who has attained All-Pro status in short order.
"One thing that stood out to me about Zack Martin is his consistency," Booker said. "You knew when it was inside zone. You knew when it was outside zone. You knew when it was a three-step drop. You know when it's a five-step drop.
"His pass sets, his run game footwork, it's so consistent. You see it over and over on top and he wasn't robotic. He just knew what worked for him, over and over again. He's someone I'm looking forward to getting to know in the future and learning from."
Between Martin, Riley, Adams and Tyler Smith, the incoming rookie first-round pick will have an embarrassment of riches as it relates to shortening his learning curve at the NFL level and, hopefully, etching his name in the Cowboys' history books as Martin and Allen did before him.
And that all begins today, with his first-ever steps inside of the team's headquarters as a starter on their offensive line.
"Book" it.
