Cowboys All-Pro Zack Martin to undergo season-ending ankle surgery, football future in doubt

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. Britt with the rehab process, goal was back for Cincinnati. Monday, Tuesday, it looked like it was going in a different direction.” 

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, 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. 

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.”

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. CBS Sports asked Martin three weeks ago about his football future beyond 2024, and he kept his answer short and sweet. 

“I’m just taking it one week at a time, my guy,” Martin said at the time.