The Cowboys drafted Travis Frederick with the 31st overall choice in 2013, and from 2014-2017, the Wisconsin product was one of the best centers in the NFL. Frederick was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2018, though, and retired after the 2019 season.
Frederick’s departure left a huge hole in the Dallas offensive line.
The Cowboys drafted another Wisconsin center, Tyler Biadasz, in the fourth round in 2020.
Biadasz not only has won the job, but he’s won the trust of his teammates and coaches.
“As the center, you have to look yourself in the mirror and be like, ‘You’ve got to be the guy,’” Biadasz said, via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “You’ve got to make the calls. You’ve got to have confidence with it. . . . You’ve got to do what you need to do to do your job right.”
Biadasz, of course, didn’t have a normal offseason program in 2020 with no on-field work and then no preseason games because of the pandemic. He played nearly every snap in Weeks 3-8 before a hamstring injury in pregame warmups before the Week 9 game against the Steelers.
Joe Looney regained the starting job, and Biadasz played only one offensive snap the final eight games.
The Cowboys did not re-sign Looney, who remains a free agent, because of their trust in Biadasz to get the job done.
“Being that center, there’s a lot of stuff that he communicates to the quarterback, to the offensive line, to everyone,” offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said. “And I think just how fast and crisp and confident he is with that, that’s huge this year. Obviously, . . . it’s his second year. It’s the first full offseason. There’s just a confidence level that’s coming out of him.”
Cowboys putting faith in Tyler Biadasz as their center originally appeared on Pro Football Talk