Mazi Smith has not elevated his game against the run or the pass as hoped
Former Dallas Cowboys first-round pick Mazi Smith has been the most divisive draft pick since Taco Charlton, another Michigan alumni. Entering his final collegiate season, Smith was touted as the freakiest athlete in college football, according to Bruce Feldman’s Freak List of 2022.
“Mazi’s rotational strength is ridiculous,” said longtime Michigan strength coach Ben Herbert, who said Smith is the strongest defensive lineman he’s seen in 25 years in the business. “He is an incredible combination of rare traits packaged into one player. He is just ridiculously strong and powerful.”
Since then, Smith has not lived up to his No. 1 ranking and has struggled to translate the strength he showed in college to the NFL. Per NFL Pro, Smith has failed to record a single pressure on any of his 80 pass rushes this season. He is the only defensive tackle who has not registered a pressure on at least 50 pass rushes.
According to NFL Pro, there have only been 16 defensive tackles to not record a pressure through Week 7 with at least 50 pass rushes since 2018. Not the historic company a young defensive tackle would want to be associated with.
Even if you trust the numbers of Pro Football Focus more than NFL Pro, Smith has just two pressures on the season on pass rush snaps per PFF. That is still tied for 107th among interior defensive linemen playing at least 20 percent of the pass rush snaps.
In Smith’s defense, he was not expected to be an elite pass rusher from the defensive tackle position like Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, or Dexter Lawrence. His job was to be a great run defender who Will McClay said the night he was drafted “had upside as a pass rusher.” However, he has also been underwhelming in that area, with a 29.9 PFF run defense grade (just behind fellow Cowboys DT Linval Joseph, who has a 30.1 run defense grade).
The former Michigan man has shown his potential when things come together. Just a few weeks ago, against the New York Giants, Smith had the best performance of his career, flipping players like rag dolls.
Smith’s performance against New York is what fans were hoping for when the Cowboys drafted the most exceptional athlete in college football. There’s still time for Smith to turn things around, as there’s more than half a season left in his sophomore campaign.
He has not looked great in the few weeks since, but maybe the bye week did him some good. At this point, we can only hope—and that’s not how fans usually feel about a Cowboys first-round pick in the middle of their second season.