2. Mazi Smith, DT
The clock is ticking for Mazi Smith to prove that he deserved to be drafted 26th overall last year.
Despite displaying a fair amount of potential in college, Smith has looked completely pedestrian at the NFL level. The former Michigan Wolverine struggled immensely as a rookie and those issues have followed him into the current season as he's only registered 13 solo tackles while playing 49% of defensive snaps across nine starts.
Smith's season is even more disappointing given the help the Cowboys gave him over the offseason. After he was mismanaged as a rookie, the Year 2 goal was to give the 23-year-old more stability by helping him regain weight and deploying him in a position that he was more comfortable with. Even defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer's presence was supposed to help with a turnaround.
Instead, Smith enters Week 11 as Pro Football Focus' worst-graded interior defender with a defense grade of 30.3. The situation is only made worse by his 29.5 run defense grade, which ranks second-worst among 121 eligible players at his position.
If the Cowboys want to start stopping the run, they must take a long look at their defensive line — especially Smith. If management becomes unconvinced that he's capable of being a starting DT, options for a divorce could be considered this winter.
3. Ezekiel Elliott, RB
It'd be tough to find anyone — aside from Jerry Jones — who's been happy with Ezekiel Elliott's performance since returning to the Cowboys in the offseason.
Even though he's yet to hit the 1,000-yard mark since 2021, the Cowboys were still confident enough to roll with Elliott as their No. 1 running back to begin the season. He's looked like anything but an NFL-caliber player since then, recording only 171 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 54 carries in eight games.
That's without mentioning how the declining 29-year-old runner owns the ninth-worst run grade among 57 eligible RBs on PFF. No matter how that fact is looked at, it's clear that Elliott isn't even league-average at this stage of his career.
Elliott was initially placed on the hot seat when the Cowboys named him as a healthy scratch in Week 9. It should've been quite the reality check for a seasoned veteran who had never been scratched in his NFL career before that moment. But instead of learning from the situation, Elliott returned to action one week later with a 22-yard performance on six carries, which also included a fumble.
If Elliott can't prove that he has something left in the tank, he's going to have a tough time convincing any team — not just the Cowboys — that he deserves another contract in 2025.