The Dallas Cowboys’ decision in the second round to draft another edge player in Donavan Ezeiruaku overshadowed an immediate challenge for defensive tackle Mazi Smith.
While many heralded the pick as a steal for Dallas, the fact is he will probably start the year no higher than fourth on the depth chart at defensive end.
Fifth is the more likely destination for the rookie from Boston College.
This is the current defensive line depth chart, per ourlads.com:
- LDE Dante Fowler Jr. / Donavan Ezeiruaku / Sam Williams / Luiji Vilain
- NT Mazi Smith / Jay Toia / Justin Rogers
- DT Osa Odighizuwa / Solomon Thomas / Tommy Akingbesote / Earnest Brown IV
- RDE Micah Parsons / Marshawn Kneeland / Payton Turner / Tyrus Wheat
The Cowboys will likely start Micah Parsons and Dante Fowler Jr. at the ends.
If Sam Williams returns healthy from last year’s training camp injury, he’ll back up Fowler with Marshawn Kneeland spelling Parsons.
Ezeiruaku is going to have to work very hard to get onto the field in the regular season.
The more interesting pick to focus on, when it comes to the defensive line, is in the middle at defensive tackle, where Smith plays. Easily, the weakest area on the entire defense.
Hardened Edges, Softened Middle
Dallas has long struggled to stop the run. That weakness has cost them far too many games.
Especially the last playoff game the Cowboys played in when Green Bay plowed through the defense at will.
Dallas has one solid defensive tackle in Osa Odighizuwa. They just rewarded the 27-year-old with a massive four-year, $52 million contract.
But what the Cowboys lacked was a legitimate run-stuffer up the middle.
They’d hoped to have addressed that need in the 2023 draft with the first-round selection of Mazi Smith.
Smith’s rookie season was dismal. His sophomore season only slightly better. In his defense, he’s had two different defensive coordinators in his first two years.
The first, Dan Quinn, made him lose 30 pounds.
Kind of hard to stuff the run when you barely outweigh your team’s strong safety. Smith will have his third defensive coordinator this year.
He’d better hope that Matt Eberflus helps him find that “player-‘get’s-it’-in-his-third-year” switch this summer.
Because the Cowboys may have drafted his replacement. Said replacement could even take away Smith’s hold on the fourth starting lineman on the defense too.
This Is A Grown Man
In the seventh round of last month’s draft, Dallas grabbed UCLA defensive tackle Jay Toia.
This is what a run-stuffer looks like. The knock on Toia was he wasn’t as strong on the pass rush. Frankly, I don’t care about that aspect of his game.
Rushing the passer is the edge’s job.
Shutting down the opposing running backs are the tackle’s job and Toia does that nicely.
The added bonus of Toia’s potential ascension to the starting lineup would be pairing him with Odighizuwa, also a UCLA-alum.
Just think of it. In the 1970s, we had the “Doomsday Defense” terrorizing NFL offenses.
In the second half of the 2020s we’d have the “Bad News Bruins” tormenting NFL running backs.
Mazi’s Last Stand
The addition of Toia should light a fire under Smith. Enough that either he steps up and becomes a first-round defensive tackle, or the second-coming of Taco Charlton.
You never want to be on the Dallas Cowboys roster and considered the second-coming of Taco Charlton.
As mentioned above, it’s hard to pin the blame for his rookie year fully on him.
What Quinn was thinking when he demanded Dallas draft Smith in the first round, only to handicap the rookie before training camp began, is a mystery.
Smith did improve under Mike Zimmer. The long-time defensive linemen whisperer got Smith’s numbers, and his playing weight, back up to a more respectable number.
Under Eberflus, Smith has to become a monster on the line. If the Cowboys continue to yield huge rushing numbers, Smith’s days as a starter, and in Dallas, may be numbered.