Cowboys Select 'Freak' Defensive Tackle in Opening Round

ARLINGTON— The Dallas Cowboys stood their ground and took their guy in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

The board fell beautifully for the Cowboys. With only a few picks before Dallas went on the clock, there was some shuffling. Jacksonville and New York traded with each other, with the Giants jumping one spot to select Deonte Banks, then Buffalo jumped the Cowboys, making a trade with Jacksonville, to take Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid.

Kincaid was the first tight end off the board and left Dallas with several great names.

• Joey Porter Jr.- Penn State- CB
• Mazi Smith- Michigan- DT
• Michael Mayer- Notre Dame- TE
• Sam LaPorta- Iowa- TE
• Myles Murphy- Clemson- DE
• Nolan Smith- Georgia- DE/LB
• Drew Sanders- Arkansas- LB

Dallas was set to pick one of these players regardless of the trading right in front of their pick. When the Cowboys went on the clock, both head coach Mike McCarthy and shadow general manager Will McClay were very animated when discussing this pick. With nearly a minute left on the clock, high fives were seen on the war-room camera. McClay called in, Jerry Jones took the phone, then McCarthy, then defensive coordinator Dan Quinn took the phone, tipping the hat that it was a defensive player.

At 26, the Dallas Cowboys took huge defensive tackle Mazi Smith from Michigan. How huge is he? At 6'3", 325 lbs., he's going to eat up running lanes and stop quarterback sneaks.

Smith won’t fill up the stat sheet, but he brings great strength and violence up front. He can handle double teams and was a team captain at Michigan. His teammates at Michigan called him “Gorilla”, according to Dane Brugler's Draft Guide, for his ability in the weight room. More importantly, he played every game the past two seasons for the Wolverines.

There was a source that the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders tried to move up with Dallas only for the Cowboys to refuse. To the fans that think “We could’ve gotten him later!”, that same source says the Chiefs were targets Smith with the trade up.

Cowboys All-Pro defensive star Micah Parsons was all in on Mazi Smith earlier today, as was Dan Quinn.

The Smith pick shows a change of philosophy for the Dallas Cowboys. Smith is the first defensive tackle the Cowboys have taken since Russell Maryland in 1991. The Cowboys have struggled at defensive tackle for a while and things improved when they traded for Jonathan Hankins last season, a similarly large defensive tackle.

As above, the players fell beautifully for Dallas on the first night. The second and third rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft continues at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow and there are still plenty of offensive lineman, tight ends, and pass rushers left on the board. Also, this is the same Cowboy's group that has selected CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, and Tyler Smith. They've earned the trust of the fans, not that they care.