The Dallas Cowboys have not been able to catch a break all season. The bad news continues after the team announced that Pro-Bowl offensive lineman Zack Martin will require season-ending ankle surgery.

“He’s gonna be missed,” said head coach Mike McCarthy. “We’re not gonna replace Zack Martin, by any means. … 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.”

This season, Martin has played in 10 of the Cowboys’ 12 games, and at 34 years old, these are the kinds of injuries that could ruin a career.

Martin is also just one of the many Cowboys who have been infected with the injury bug this season. Other notable players who have hit the injured reserve include DeMarcus Lawrence, Amani Oruwariye, and Dak Prescott.

It’s one of the many reasons Dallas, at 5-7, seems out of the playoff race in just Week 14.

Zack Martin is As Consistent As It Gets

Throughout his career, Martin has been one of the rare occasions Father Time has struggled to bring him down.

34 may be young in the regular world, but in the NFL, it seems ancient. Despite that, in his 11 years, Martin has racked up nine Pro Bowls and seven All-Pro selections.

The only year he hadn’t gotten at least one in his career was 2020, when he was subjected to just 10 games.

If this were his final season, he would be an easy lock for the Hall of Fame.

Cowboys Legend Gets Teary-Eyed When Discussing Retirement Truth

FRISCO – There seems to be some misunderstanding about Dallas Cowboys offensive line legend Zack Martin and his dealing with the possibility of retirement following the Thursday news that he is out for the remainder of the 2024 season due to an ankle injury that will require surgery. As some have (wrongly) interpreted his highly emotional remarks there is an impression in Cowboys Nation that “The Gob” isn’t considering retirement. The fact is, though, what the nine-time All-Pro guard didn’t want to do on Thursday at the Star is … to talk about retirement.

“Now isn’t the time to have those conversations,” Martin said. “That’s all I’ll say about that … The most important thing on my mind is getting healthy and then having those conversations down the road… We’ll see what the future holds.” An iron man who before this year had missed just 11 games in 11 seasons (but who played in just 10 games this year), Martin needs an ankle surgery that he has valiantly tried to put off as he attempted to battle his way back onto the field.

He got teary-eyed on Thursday when the topic of conversation turned to the idea of hanging up his cleats – especially as he reflected on dear friend Travis Frederick having to do so in 2019 due to a Martin became teary-eyed when mentioning his recent conversations with Frederick, who retired following the 2019 season due to a Guillain–Barré syndrome diagnosis – but when was asked if he would continue to play, he made it clear that he’s not thinking about that right now, either. In June, Martin, now 34, was asked about the idea of retirement in conjunction with the expiration of his contract. And he bowed to the legitimacy of the question. “I’m not saying 100 percent, but I think it’s definitely in the realm of possibilities,” Martin said then. “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.” And now … here we are. Martin was a first-round draft pick of Dallas back in 2014, and has been arguably the best guard of his generation, with a Hall of Fame berth likely in his future. That will be an emotional time … just as this is an emotional time.