{"id":29726,"date":"2025-08-05T23:04:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=29726"},"modified":"2025-08-05T23:04:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:04:50","slug":"breaking-news-cowboys-dealt-injury-setback-on-disappointing-first-round-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=29726","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS : Cowboys Dealt Injury Setback on Disappointing First Round Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1802549664-e1754430785659.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1802549664-e1754430785659.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1802549664-e1754430785659.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1802549664-e1754430785659.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Cowboys Dealt Injury Setback on Disappointing First Round Pick\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Things already weren\u2019t going great for Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith at training camp. This won\u2019t make it any better.<\/p>\n<p>Smith left a joint practice against the Los Angeles Rams on August 5 with knee soreness. That came just one day after he was taken in for an MRI on his knee \u2014 not a good sign for a player who already seemed on the verge of losing his starting job.<\/p>\n<p>From The Dallas Morning News: \u201cSmith was examined in the trainer\u2019s tent for several minutes before leaving the field under his own power. Smith came into training camp as a starter, but he has recently been ceding reps working with the first unit to rookie seventh-round draft pick Jay Toia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith was a first round pick (No. 26 overall) by the Cowboys in the 2023 NFL draft.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Smith Already Being Viewed as Draft Bust<\/h2>\n<p>The buzz around Smith after a pair of 2 disappointing seasons to start his career is that his time in Dallas could soon be coming to an end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFormer first-rounder Mazi Smith endured a particularly tough 2024 campaign,\u201d\u00a0PFF\u2019s Mason Cameron\u00a0wrote on May 9. \u201cHe posted an abysmal 34.7 PFF overall grade, marking his second consecutive season of earning a sub-48.0 grade. Although Dallas signed\u00a0Solomon Thomas\u00a0in free agency, that doesn\u2019t profile as the answer to the Cowboys\u2019\u00a030th-ranked run-defense grade\u00a0(48.0).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s PFF grade put him among the worst defensive tackles in the NFL \u2014 207th out of 219 eligible players at his position.<\/p>\n<p>Bleacher Report\u2019s Matt Holder called Smith the Cowboys\u2019 \u201cWorst First Round Pick\u201d in the last 5 years.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Toia Could Become Incredible Value to Cowboys<\/h2>\n<p>If Smith is out for an extended period of time, the Cowboys can take comfort in knowing Toia was already making a play for his job.<\/p>\n<p>Bleacher Report\u2019s Brent Sobleski called the 6-foot-2, 342-pound former UCLA star one of the NFL\u2019s top \u201cDraft-Day Steals\u201d following the start of OTAs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Toia) is a powerful, old-school nose tackle capable of eating up blocks, resetting the line of scrimmage and (will) allow those around him to make plays while he does the dirty work,\u201d Sobleski wrote on June 1.<\/p>\n<p>Toia could provide the Cowboys\u2019 defense with what it needs the most \u2014 help defending the run. ESPN\u2019s Field Yates\u00a0praised him for exactly that following the draft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter adding the best run blocker in the class early in\u00a0Alabama\u2019s Tyler Booker, the Cowboys selected one of the best run defenders late in Toia,\u201d Yates wrote on April 29. \u201cHe anchored UCLA\u2019s run defense, which gave up only 2.7 yards per attempt in 2023 (second best in the FBS). With great size, power and violent hands, Toia makes life easier for linebackers against the run. But he will be a minimal factor on passing downs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The good thing for the Cowboys is neither Smith nor Toia is going to cost them much in 2025 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Smith has 2 years and just $4.4 million left on his 4-year, $13.27 million contract. As the No. 217 overall pick, Toia signed a rookie contract for 4 years, $4.35 million and will make less than $1 million as a rookie \u2014 that includes all of the contract\u2019s $153,116 in guaranteed money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith left Tuesday&#8217;s joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams with knee soreness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dallas-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING NEWS : Cowboys Dealt Injury Setback on Disappointing First Round Pick - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=29726\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS : Cowboys Dealt Injury Setback on Disappointing First Round Pick - 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