Zack Martin will have season-ending ankle surgery

Cowboys right guard Zack Martin’s 2024 season is over.

Head coach Mike McCarthy announced on Thursday that Martin will have surgery on the ankle injury that sidelined him in the team’s last two games. Martin will now miss the team’s five remaining games of this season and move into an uncertain football future.

Martin is in the final year of his contract and he said in June that retirement was in the realm of possibilities after the 2024 season. The work needed to recover from season-ending ankle surgery will likely factor into any decision on that front.

If he is done, Martin will go down as one of the most accomplished offensive linemen of any era. He was voted a first-team All-Pro seven times in his first 10 seasons with the Cowboys and season No. 11 will mark only the second time that he didn’t start at least 14 of the team’s games.