{"id":54907,"date":"2025-05-13T11:16:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T11:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907"},"modified":"2025-05-13T11:16:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T11:16:02","slug":"cowboys-predicted-to-part-ways-with-13-million-former-first-round-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1641434654-e1747128735352.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1641434654-e1747128735352.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1641434654-e1747128735352.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1641434654-e1747128735352.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>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<p>Two years, though? After two years, we know some things.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle and 2023 first round pick (No. 26 overall) Mazi 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<p>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<p>\u201cFormer first-rounder Mazi Smith endured a particularly tough 2024 campaign,\u201d PFF\u2019s Mason Cameron wrote 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 Solomon Thomas in free agency, that doesn\u2019t profile as the answer to the Cowboys\u2019 30th-ranked run-defense grade (48.0).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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<div id=\"4f8d7b8d34833bf09d449885acaa79c1\">\n<div>\n<article>\n<div>\n<p>Mazi Smith is the guy the Cowboys drafted after a long debate between him or Matthew Bergeron.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, Cowboys<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>\u2018Rare Combination of Power and Agility\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Smith had NFL draftniks salivating after The Athletic\u2019s Bruce Feldman put 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<p>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<p>NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein compared 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<p>\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<hr \/>\n<h2>Numbers Not What You Want From Elite Defensive Tackle<\/h2>\n<p>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 1991 NFL draft.<\/p>\n<p>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<p>In short, he\u2019s not really doing anything an NFL team wants an elite defensive tackle to do.<\/p>\n<p>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 UCLA\u2019s Jay Toia and Maryland\u2019s Tommy Akingbesote.<\/p>\n<p>Tony Adame covers 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. More about Tony Adame<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Cowboys News<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Cowboys are predicted to part ways with defensive tackle and 2023 first round pick Mazi Smith after 2 seasons of struggles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":54908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck - NEWS USA<\/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:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Dallas Cowboys are predicted to part ways with defensive tackle and 2023 first round pick Mazi Smith after 2 seasons of struggles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-13T11:16:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-59-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907\",\"name\":\"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-59-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-13T11:16:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-13T11:16:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-59-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-59-1.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\",\"name\":\"MrThanh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrThanh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck - NEWS USA","og_description":"The Dallas Cowboys are predicted to part ways with defensive tackle and 2023 first round pick Mazi Smith after 2 seasons of struggles.","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-05-13T11:16:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-59-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MrThanh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrThanh","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907","name":"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-59-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-13T11:16:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-13T11:16:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-59-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-59-1.jpg","width":900,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=54907#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cowboys Predicted to Part Ways With $13 Million Former First Round PIck"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec","name":"MrThanh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrThanh"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54909,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54907\/revisions\/54909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}