The Dallas Cowboys have one of the best offenses in the National Football League, but that's clearly not the case with their defense. With that in mind, Matt Eberflus and Brian Schottenheimer have had to make some tough decisions.
Notably, that includes moving on from a former first-round pick. The Cowboys announced that DT Mazi Smith won't be active in the road game to the Carolina Panthers, which points to the beginning of the end of his tenure in Arlington.
Cowboys Seem Done With Mazi Smith
"Cowboys former first-round pick DT Mazi Smith is inactive today against the Panthers," reported Jon Machota of The Athletic. Instead, the team will roll with 2025 seventh-round rookie Jay Toia, who also played over him in the first two games of the season. That should speak volumes about the way they truly feel about him.
Smith has played 18, 15, and 18 snaps in the last three games, but he's failed to make a good impression. He's been one of the team's biggest liabilities against the run, as shown by his 36.2 PFF grade against the run, which is 174th out of 186 eligible defensive tackles.
He's been in the league for three years now, and while he closed out last season on a somewhat promising note, he's done nothing to show he's worth keeping around for longer. As a healthy scratch in half of the regular-season games to date, and after being benched by a seventh-round selection, only a string of injuries could get him back on the field.
Even former UFL star Perrion Winfrey might give this team more once he's ready to take the field. He hasn't played since Week 13 of the last season, but at this point, it's hard to believe he could do much worse than Smith. He even beat him in training camp.
The Cowboys took Smith with the No. 26 pick out of Michigan three years ago. He's still young, so perhaps someone will be willing to take him as a reclamation project, and while the team won't get anything close to what they invested in him, it might be better to get something in return instead of just cutting him and taking the $4 million dead-cap hit.
Whatever the case, with the Cowboys giving up 127.4 rushing yards and 30.8 points per game, they have to make adjustments and shake things up before it's too late.