{"id":48257,"date":"2025-05-15T00:38:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T00:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=48257"},"modified":"2025-05-15T00:38:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T00:38:46","slug":"cowboys-are-down-to-just-3-smiths-as-they-say-farewell-to-defensive-midfielder-mazi-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=48257","title":{"rendered":"#Cowboys are down to just 3 ‘Smiths’ as they say farewell to Defensive Midfielder Mazi Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Mazi <\/p>\n

Getty<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith.<\/p>\n

It takes a lot to write off any NFL first round draft pick after one season. Usually doesn\u2019t happen. Even in the cutthroat world of professional sports, we\u2019re going to spot you at least one year.<\/p>\n

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S\u00e2n ch\u01a1i \u0111\u1eb3ng c\u1ea5p! Th\u01b0\u1edfng ho\u00e0n v\u00f4 h\u1ea1n!<\/a><\/div>\n
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L\u00e0m \u0111i\u1ec1u n\u00e0y tr\u01b0\u1edbc khi ng\u1ee7, k\u00fd sinh tr\u00f9ng s\u1ebd r\u1eddi c\u01a1 th\u1ec3!<\/a><\/div>\n
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N\u1ebfu b\u1ea1n th\u1ea5y m\u1ee5n c\u00f3c tr\u00ean c\u01a1 th\u1ec3, h\u00e3y l\u00e0m ngay l\u1eadp t\u1ee9c<\/a><\/div>\n
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Two years, though? After two years, we know some things.<\/p>\n

In the case of\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0defensive tackle and 2023 first round pick (No. 26 overall)\u00a0Mazi Smith, the first 2 years of his career have not gone very well and it\u2019s fair to say 2025 is more than just a \u201cprove it\u201d year for him. If he continues to underperform, it\u2019s easy to see the Cowboys trying to trade him at some point during this season or after.<\/p>\n

One likely scenario would be moving Smith before the NFL trade deadline to a team in desperate need of an interior run defender and before his value in a trade dips anymore than it already has.<\/p>\n

\u201cFormer first-rounder Mazi Smith endured a particularly tough 2024 campaign,\u201d\u00a0PFF\u2019s Mason Cameron\u00a0wrote on May 9. \u201cHe posted an abysmal 34.7 PFF overall grade, marking his second consecutive season of earning a sub-48.0 grade. Although Dallas signed\u00a0Solomon Thomas\u00a0in free agency, that doesn\u2019t profile as the answer to the Cowboys\u2019\u00a030th-ranked run-defense grade\u00a0(48.0).\u201d<\/p>\n

To be clear, Smith\u2019s PFF grade puts him among the worst defensive tackles in the NFL \u2014 207th out of 219 eligible players at his position.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rare Combination of Power and Agility\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Smith had NFL draftniks salivating after\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s Bruce Feldman\u00a0put him at No. 1 on his annual college football \u201cFreaks\u201d list in 2022, saying the 6-foot-3, 337-pound University of Michigan star had a unique combination of power and agility \u201cso rare, in fact, it\u2019s hard to find the right superlative to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u0110\u1eebng b\u1ecf l\u1ee1 ph\u1ea7n th\u01b0\u1edfng l\u1edbn \u2013 \u0110\u0103ng k\u00fd \u0111\u1ec3 truy c\u1eadp ngay!<\/a><\/div>\n
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C\u00f4 g\u00e1i 24 tu\u1ed5i \u1edf H\u1ea3i D\u01b0\u01a1ng h\u00f3a t\u1ec9 ph\u00fa nh\u1edd gi\u1ea5u k\u0129 v\u1eadt n\u00e0y d\u01b0\u1edbi g\u1ed1i!<\/a><\/div>\n
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Sinh l\u00fd nam gi\u1edbi m\u1ea1nh m\u1ebd: B\u00ed m\u1eadt m\u00e0 b\u1ea1n kh\u00f4ng h\u1ec1 hay bi\u1ebft?<\/a><\/div>\n
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In 2022, Smith was named All-Big Ten Conference after leading the Wolverines to the College Football Playoff semifinals with 49 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.<\/p>\n

NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein\u00a0compared Smith to 2-time Pro Bowler Dontari Poe in his pre-draft evaluation. Zierlein also had Smith pegged as a player who some team would likely draft too early.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmith\u2019s size and testing could give his draft slotting some juice but he\u2019s more of a Day 2 talent with exciting upside than a plug-and-play starter,\u201d Zierlein wrote.<\/p>\n

Numbers Not What You Want From Elite Defensive Tackle<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Cowboys thought enough of Smith to make him the first defensive tackle they\u2019ve taken in the first round since they selected 3-time Super Bowl champion Russell Maryland with the No. 1 overall pick in the\u00a01991 NFL draft.<\/p>\n

Smith, who has 2 seasons left on a 4-year, $13.2 million contract, only had 13 tackles and 1.0 sack as a rookie in 17 games with 3 starts, then had 41 tackles, 1.0 sack and 4 TFL in 2024 as he started all 17 games. In 2 seasons, Smith only has 3 QB hits, no forced fumbles and no fumble recoveries.<\/p>\n

In short, he\u2019s not really doing anything an NFL team\u00a0wants an elite defensive tackle to do.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys may have sent Smith a message about his performance in the 2025 NFL draft, where they selected 2 defensive tackles in the seventh round with\u00a0UCLA\u2019s Jay Toia\u00a0and Maryland\u2019s\u00a0Tommy Akingbesote.<\/p>\n

Tony Adame<\/strong>\u00a0covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal.\u00a0More about Tony Adame<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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  Getty Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith. It takes a lot to write off any NFL first round draft pick after one season. Usually doesn\u2019t happen…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n#Cowboys are down to just 3 'Smiths' as they say farewell to Defensive Midfielder Mazi Smith - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=48257\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"#Cowboys are down to just 3 'Smiths' as they say farewell to Defensive Midfielder Mazi Smith - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Getty Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith. 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