Cowboys DT Mazi Smith going back to hybrid role at lower weight

This is an important year for Mazi Smith

It isn’t often that defensive coordinator changes are analyzed through the eyes of a defensive tackle, but such has been the case the last two seasons for 2023 first-round pick Mazi Smith out of Michigan. The combination of the Cowboys lacking at this position for a long time ahead of drafting Smith, not valuing it enough to spend the resources, and specifically needing a player in the run-stuffing mold of Smith created this immediate sense of urgency for the pick to hit, the first signs of which only just coming last season.

After slimming down to try and fit into the hybrid, attack the quarterback from all angles defense of Dan Quinn as a rookie, Smith was an obvious, more natural fit as a primary 1-tech under Mike Zimmer in year two. Zimmer was one and done as defensive coordinator in Dallas in 2024, and now in his place is former Cowboys linebackers coach Matt Eberflus.

There is still much to learn about how Eberflus will deploy the Cowboys defense at all three levels. One thing that has been heavily expected from Eberflus is the scheme relying on strong play from the 3-tech defensive tackle spot, which the Cowboys backed up by making Osa Odighizuwa one of their first contract extension priorities this offseason.

It took just a bit longer than some fans would have preferred to get into the nuts and bolts of actual football talk once the Cowboys arrived in Oxnard, with the opening press conference being dominated by contract talks. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer has done well to steer things back to this focus and remain locked in on his inaugural season though.

On Tuesday, he shared that the team’s vision for Smith has shifted slightly yet again, with plans to use him as a hybrid between the 1- and 3-technique positions. The Cowboys surely do need depth beyond Odighizuwa to feel better about the overall situation at DT when it comes to pass rush, but the same is also true in a more overall sense of their run defense as a whole. The front seven is littered with new names and faces, many of which have been here for all or part of the last three scheme changes in three seasons, others that came via free agency or trades with their own experience in different roles.

Getting this group all on the same page to field a capable run defense is going to be no small feat for Eberflus, and having designated players that can specialize in exactly this would not be a bad place to start. At least for now, this is not where the Cowboys are choosing to start 2025 training camp with Smith, a player that showed the best potential of his career to be that type of run defender a season ago.

The need for penetration upfield all across the defensive front has taken priority. The potential to create pre-snap identification issues for opposing offenses is high with this group. In a perfect world, having Smith capable of staying on the field as a three down player and creating penetration as a defender would take this to an even higher level, but it isn’t something Smith has shown much of a capability of so far in his career. In fact, trying to make him a jack of all trades under Quinn clearly turned the run-stuffing specialist into a master of none. When playing at a lower weight, Smith was far too easily washed out of running plays, unable to stay square to the line of scrimmage, and created gap integrity issues for the defense that were hard to overcome.

Schottenheimer mentioned that Smith has looked to veteran free agent acquisition Solomon Thomas to grow into his new role under Eberflus. Thomas has played as something of a hybrid defensive tackle throughout his career, but similar to Smith, has also yet to reach the full potential his first-round draft status would indicate. This doesn’t mean that Thomas can’t or won’t still make a positive impact on the Cowboys defense after being reunited with the defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton who coached Thomas with the Jets a year ago. It just shows that the Cowboys are in the early phases of figuring out how to cover for their deficiencies on defense, and right now it involves asking players to stretch beyond their normal or expected roles.

Doing so at defensive tackle comes with a lot of risk though, as the Cowboys have struggled here under more than just their last three defensive coordinators. This is a team looking to do whatever it takes to prove they have learned some of these hard lessons to be a more focused, driven, and coherent group under Schottenheimer.

With a training camp that’s begun in a flurry of contract disputes, questions about depth to withstand injuries, and concerns at defensive tackle, it is an a shaky start on these goals at best. A player like Mazi Smith was already firmly in the category of those who will have to wait until padded practices begin to be evaluated fairly, but the pressure is once again turned up on him to have a lot on his shoulders in year three it seems.