Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Mike McCarthy announced on Thursday that offensive guard Zack Martin will miss the remainder of the season due to surgery to repair an ankle injury.
Martin has been a member of the Cowboys since being drafted by the organization in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft, starting for the team in an astonishing 162 games during that span.
However, Martin will now miss the remaining five games of the 2024 season after missing the last two with the same injury, meaning he will have played just 10 games in total this season.
McCarthy said Martin is “gonna be missed” for the rest of the season, adding that the team is “not gonna replace” Martin on the field or in the locker room.
“He brings so much to the team and the team culture. We all recognize what kind of player he’s been here in Dallas, but the type of person he is — people gravitate to him. His leadership, he’ll definitely be missed in that area,” he explained, per NFL.com.
Discussions have already been circulating that Martin could be in his final season with the Cowboys, but McCarthy refused to discuss the potential retirement and said the team just has to “deal with one thing at a time.”
“The focus is really about the surgery, what’s next. And I think those are all questions that I’m sure that will be asked or will be thought about. But he really, in my conversations with him, his focus is on getting the surgery and trying to do the best he can with this ankle because obviously this is I think the third surgery that he’ll have on that ankle,” McCarthy added, as reported by ESPN.
Martin is in the final season of his current contract and has said before the year that retirement is a realistic option for him following the 2024 season, explaining that there is no guarantee but it is “in the realm of possibilities.”
“And that’s one thing I don’t want to do. For myself, I don’t want to be thinking, ‘Oh, this is it. This is it.’ I want to stay in the moment, and I want to play the best that I can play at this point and be the best right guard this team needs on a weekly basis. And then after the season, we’ll figure out what’s going on,” he said in June, per NBC Sports.
Martin will now have to determine if he is open to returning to the team while undergoing a potentially lengthy recovery; however, Martin has indicated that he plans on returning for another season, according to The Athletic’s Jon Machota.
This injury comes amidst a difficult season for the Cowboys, with the team collecting an overall record of only 5-7 while also sitting in just third place in the NFC East division.
Dallas still has a path to the playoffs, but a difficult schedule for the remainder of the season and a growing number of injuries will make this goal difficult.
The Cowboys will have to continue this focus for a Monday night matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals at 7:15 p.m. in a game that could have important consequences for both teams.