FRISCO, Texas -- Right guard Zack Martin, one of the pillars of the Dallas Cowboys for the last decade, is done for the rest of the 2024 season. He had missed Dallas' last two games with a right ankle injury, and head coach Mike McCarthy announced on Thursday that Martin will now have his third surgery on his right ankle.
"Zack is going to have season-ending surgery on his ankle," McCarthy said Thursday. "We started off a couple of weeks ago, we felt with the two weeks prior to Cincinnati, we felt this was a good path for him to try to get back for the Cincinnati game. But as he went through the protocol and the planning, Friday, things didn't look quite as good as we hoped, then there were some more studies and a conversation that went on yesterday. Everybody involved thought it was best for him to get the surgery. There was hope still Friday. [Director of rehab] Britt [Brown] with the rehab process, goal was back for Cincinnati. Monday, Tuesday, it looked like it was going in a different direction."
Martin affirmed everything McCarthy said after practice Thursday, as his intent was to play Monday against the Cincinnati Bengals. The decision for Martin to undergo season-ending injury came to fruition in the last 24-to-48 hours.
"It's something I've been dealing with all year, back to training camp," Martin said Thursday. "Really, over the last few years. The last couple of weeks, we kind of took those two weeks to try to heal up and did some different treatments, things like that. Monday, did some workouts on the field, and it just didn't respond very well. (Associate Athletic Trainer) Britt [Brown], we kind had a heart to heart conversation and decided it was smart to get this thing fixed and get healthy."
Martin's seven first-team All-Pro selections are tied for the most in NFL history among offensive guards with Hall of Famers Randall McDaniel and John Hannah, and he is in the final year of his contract in 2024, his 11th NFL season. He turned 34-years-old Nov. 20, so it's natural to wonder if this season is his last. His on-field production has been nothing short of excellent. Martin is a nine-time Pro Bowler who has fewer career holding penalties (six) than he does first-team All-Pro selections (seven).
"Clearly a Hall of Famer," McCarthy said of Martin. "Not only for the way he plays but just first class. He just commands a lot of respect. Same person, personality every single day. Hard working. True team guy. Puts the team first. He's been a joy to work with and I can't say enough great things about him."
However, the 2010's All-Decade Team member has started to show his age across the last three seasons. Martin's Pro Football Focus offensive grades have always vacillated between somewhere in the 80s to as high as 94.2 in 2021 at the age of 31. However, they have fallen off a cliff the last three seasons, dropping to 73.3 in 2022 and 70.5 in 2023 and now down to 65.6 this season. Martin has also allowed his single season career-high in sacks in each of the last two seasons, surrendering four in 2023 and five in 2024. Frustration with his dip in performance and being hampered in his ability to get out of his base played a significant factor in Martin getting the surgery done now.
"It's been a little bit of a struggle out there with this thing," Martin said. "Everyone's banged up in this locker room. We have plenty of guys in here, and everyone's fighting through stuff. Yeah, it's been something I've been dealing with and constantly getting worked on and trying to get it as healthy as I can Sunday to Sunday. It's a frustrating deal, right? I'd love to go out there and finish the year and play at a high level. But right now, the important thing is trying to get healthy."
| Zack Martin's Career PFF Grades | Offensive Grade | Pass-Blocking Grade | Run-Block Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
2014 | 86.7 | 92.0 | 78.0 |
2015 | 87.6 | 91.8 | 77.4 |
2016 | 89.4 | 83.6 | 84.0 |
2017 | 89.0 | 87.2 | 82.2 |
2018 | 82.4 | 84.7 | 74.8 |
2019 | 88.2 | 90.8 | 80.1 |
2020 | 91.3 | 73.9 | 92.2 |
2021 | 94.2 | 88.7 | 92.8 |
2022 | 73.3 | 81.2 | 64.8 |
2023 | 70.5 | 77.2 | 64.3 |
2024 | 65.6 | 62.0 | 63.3 |
On the field, 25-year-old undrafted interior linemen Brock Hoffman and T.J. Bass have filled in the Cowboys guard spots with Hoffman mainly playing Martin's right guard spot while Bass has subbed in for Tyler Smith when the Pro Bowl left guard missed Dallas' Week 12 matchup with the Washington Commanders.
"Those guys have worked hard. I mean Brock's done a nice job in there. T.J., I thought he played well in Washington," McCarthy said. "I think that the biggest thing for him is to be consistent, T.J. I thought Brock has done a really nice job, brings an edge to us. So those guys have, they've done what we needed to fill in. But now, they got tape, people are watching them so the challenges will be different."
McCarthy also maintained there's no real way to replace someone like Martin whose production off the field and respect as a leader in the locker room are both essentially larger than life.
"He's going to be missed. We're not going to replace Zack Martin by no means," McCarthy said. "Just his presence, there's meetings we have, offensively with just the linemen and the different position groups, we've gone to different meeting structure, Zack is the veteran leader who leads one of the meetings. Those types of things, behind closed doors you're not going to replace. He brings so much to the team, to the team culture, we all recognize what a great player he is here in Dallas his whole career. But what he gives us as a person, he gravitates, he makes people gravitate to him and he does a really good job of bringing people together. That offensive line room is really an illustration of his leadership. He definitely will be missed in that area."
Mentally, Martin himself is deflated. The 10 games he has played this season are tied for his fewest played in any season of his 11-year career after only playing 10 games in 2020, McCarthy's first season as Dallas' head coach.
"It's tough. Anytime you pour everything you have into something and come up short on it and have to do something like this, it sucks," Martin said. "Guys in this locker room put a lot of time into this. It's just a shitty situation."
Given Martin's age and his expiring contract, it's worth wondering whether or not his NFL career is now over. Three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons made waves earlier in the year when he said he was playing more for guys like Martin, who may be "on their last year on their way out" than head coach Mike McCarthy. The 34-year-old didn't want to get into the retirement conversation Thursday.
"This is not the time to have those discussions," Martin said. This is all I'll say about that. It's a tough situation and the most important thing on my mind is getting healthy and then having those conversations down the road. but first and foremost i want to get healthy and then maybe those conversations are a little bit easier."
While Martin didn't get into specifics about his feelings toward retirement publicly in the locker room on Thursday, he did talk about everything with retired, five-time Pro Bowl Cowboys center Travis Frederick on Wednesday night. Frederick was forced to retire at the age of 28 after being diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, and Martin recalled having chills while thinking about Frederick and their conversation about Martin's career.
"Trav's like one of my best friends in the world," Martin said. "He was just calling and checking in on me. He's very aware, I've been filling him in kind of throughout the year. He's just a great support system. I got chills thinking about him right now."