Defensive Tackle

[CCBoy]

FRISCO, TX — It was a busy, and joyful, day for the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday, March 4, as they avoided having to place a franchise tag on defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa and instead came to terms on a four-year, $80 million contract extension that includes more than $50 million in guaranteed money.

That means the biggest unrestricted free agent in the building, and the atop his position this offseason, will not hit the open market at all and, as such, the Cowboys are solidified at one of the interior defensive line positions.

Odighizuwa is the heart and soul of the defensive interior who is also still young enough to have yet to reach his full potential, while also having already proven he can be a force to be reckoned with.

https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/...e-combo-meal-in-free-agency-exist-for-cowboys

 

[CCBoy]

Depth contributors

Chauncey Golston: For the first three years of his NFL career, Golston was trapped by his own versatility. Most of his time in Dallas has featured him as interior line depth, and that's why he's on this episode of this series and not the defensive end portion, though his best season, by far, came in 2024, when he was tasked with helping out at the edge due to a ravaging of injury that cost the Cowboys several bodies there. Golston produced a career-high 5.5 sacks off of the edge, but also has value as a defensive tackle, making it worth consideration to keep him around.

BJ Hill: A little less costly than Williams, at a projection of $9 million annually (per Spotrac), Hill still presents a tangibly impactful option for the Cowboys at defensive tackle. Also a former third-round pick (2018), he spent the first four seasons of his NFL career combating the Cowboys for the Giants before joining the Bengals, where he's been since 2021. He's been more consistent than Williams by averaging four sacks per season over the last four campaigns, with 225 combined tackles in that timeframe, the latter showing exactly how often he's involved in both the pass rush and run defense.

Poona Ford: This portion of my list begin the midrange of financial expense, with Ford projected at near $6 million annually, and that is good value for a player who logged 17 starts last season. They weren't quiet starts, either, seeing as he not only had three sacks and 39 combined tackles, eight for a loss, but also five pass deflections (more than some defensive backs in the NFL) and an interception. His ability to disrupt passing lanes is stellar, and he's far from shabby in collapsing the pocket and defending the run — the fifth-highest graded interior defensive lineman in the league in 2024.

Teair Tart: Also on this end of the pricing spectrum is Tart, hovering around a projection of $5 million annually, though there is quite the value gap between Tart and Ford. Whereas Ford has proven himself a consistent starter, Tart hasn't logged a single start since 2019, but was available for all 17 games last season for the Chargers. I'm in for Tart as a depth piece, if he's willing to come in at lower than $5 million, because we've seen firsthand just how much depth can be tested at times in Dallas, and in the NFL as a whole, once the injury bug starts getting hungry.

https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/...e-combo-meal-in-free-agency-exist-for-cowboys

 

[CCBoy]

Then the deep defensive tackles into Day 2.

 

[CCBoy]

Mazi Smith

Part of the reason for his poor rookie year can be traced back to before the year even began. Smith was asked to drop 30 pounds during training camp.

Asking a run-stopper at defensive tackle to drop nearly 10% of their weight and still be effective is like putting an engine from a Prius into a Formula 1 car and asking it to win a race.

Smith rebounded somewhat in 2024. Mostly due to the fact that he was allowed to put the weight back on.

https://insidethestar.com/this-player-must-amazingly-bust-out-in-2025

The new staff will help a lot to make him into a #1 Defensive Tackle..

 

[Kolemmitt]

Depth contributors

Chauncey Golston: For the first three years of his NFL career, Golston was trapped by his own versatility. Most of his time in Dallas has featured him as interior line depth, and that's why he's on this episode of this series and not the defensive end portion, though his best season, by far, came in 2024, when he was tasked with helping out at the edge due to a ravaging of injury that cost the Cowboys several bodies there. Golston produced a career-high 5.5 sacks off of the edge, but also has value as a defensive tackle, making it worth consideration to keep him around.

BJ Hill: A little less costly than Williams, at a projection of $9 million annually (per Spotrac), Hill still presents a tangibly impactful option for the Cowboys at defensive tackle. Also a former third-round pick (2018), he spent the first four seasons of his NFL career combating the Cowboys for the Giants before joining the Bengals, where he's been since 2021. He's been more consistent than Williams by averaging four sacks per season over the last four campaigns, with 225 combined tackles in that timeframe, the latter showing exactly how often he's involved in both the pass rush and run defense.

Poona Ford: This portion of my list begin the midrange of financial expense, with Ford projected at near $6 million annually, and that is good value for a player who logged 17 starts last season. They weren't quiet starts, either, seeing as he not only had three sacks and 39 combined tackles, eight for a loss, but also five pass deflections (more than some defensive backs in the NFL) and an interception. His ability to disrupt passing lanes is stellar, and he's far from shabby in collapsing the pocket and defending the run — the fifth-highest graded interior defensive lineman in the league in 2024.

Teair Tart: Also on this end of the pricing spectrum is Tart, hovering around a projection of $5 million annually, though there is quite the value gap between Tart and Ford. Whereas Ford has proven himself a consistent starter, Tart hasn't logged a single start since 2019, but was available for all 17 games last season for the Chargers. I'm in for Tart as a depth piece, if he's willing to come in at lower than $5 million, because we've seen firsthand just how much depth can be tested at times in Dallas, and in the NFL as a whole, once the injury bug starts getting hungry.

https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/...e-combo-meal-in-free-agency-exist-for-cowboys

I would love Poona Ford lining up next to Osa.

 

[Nova]

We should see what the Jets want for Quinnen Williams

 

[maryquality]

https://insidethestar.com/this-player-must-amazingly-bust-out-in-2025

The new staff will help a lot to make him into a #1 Defensive Tackle.

That's asking for a miracle to make Mazi a #1 DT. But, I would welcome any improvement with that guy!!

 

[MarcusRock]

We should see what the Jets want for Quinnen Williams

We're fresh out of 4th Rounders, sorry.

 

[dacopacabana]

Javon Hargrave to be released by SF. He’s coming back off of a bicep tear.

 

[CCBoy]

That's asking for a miracle to make Mazi a #1 DT. But, I would welcome any improvement with that guy!!

Now give the man a chance, negative doesn't help anything but prejudice. Let the man get back to his #1 DT strengths.


He benefited greatly last year from having Mike Zimmer as his then-new defensive coordinator.

Zimmer was known for building run-stopping defensive lines.

https://insidethestar.com/this-player-must-amazingly-bust-out-in-2025

 

[KingCorcoran]

Javon Hargrave to be released by SF. He’s coming back off of a bicep tear.

The Niners will be the third franchise, all good ones, to not give Hargrave a 2nd contract. There must be a reason.

 

[CCBoy]

With Sam Williams and Marshawn Kneeland on the ends, and with Micah Parsons attracting double teams, Smith could bust out in 2025. That is definitely something he needs to do this fall.

https://insidethestar.com/this-player-must-amazingly-bust-out-in-2025

 

[jazzcat22]

Eberflus may be what Mazi needs.

Quinn screwed him up, then Zimmer had to try to get him to rebound. And with all the injuries, one player can't lead the defense.
Now he will be learning another system,

 

[CCBoy]

When you look at some of the names of the players that have played defensive tackle in Dallas, it’s a literal who’s who of pro football.

Bob Lilly
Randy White
Jethro Pugh
John Dutton
Tony Casillas
Chad Hennings
Russell Maryland
Leon Lett

https://insidethestar.com/this-player-must-amazingly-bust-out-in-2025

As to Smith ...

It will take a lot of hard work over many years for him to get there too. Nor will any of it be easy.

For the rest of his rookie contract, which runs through the end of the 2027 season before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2028, he’ll be compared to who Dallas passed up in 2023.

https://insidethestar.com/this-player-must-amazingly-bust-out-in-2025

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Mazi Smith

Part of the reason for his poor rookie year can be traced back to before the year even began. Smith was asked to drop 30 pounds during training camp.

Asking a run-stopper at defensive tackle to drop nearly 10% of their weight and still be effective is like putting an engine from a Prius into a Formula 1 car and asking it to win a race.

Smith rebounded somewhat in 2024. Mostly due to the fact that he was allowed to put the weight back on.

https://insidethestar.com/this-player-must-amazingly-bust-out-in-2025

The new staff will help a lot to make him into a #1 Defensive Tackle..

I think the reason they did that we Mazi was to get him to speed up a bit. expectations were that for him to have faster get off and be quicker with 30 lb of fat dropping. he was still around 325, which is not small.

the problem with Mazi has been he is still slow to get off at the snap, which puts him behind. sometimes watching him he is almost a second behind, everyone moves and then he moves. perhaps he doesn't want to be penalized, not sure. so he is not timing the snap count and probably because he may not be familiar with the cadence of the opposing offense.

he is also not very technically sound at times and takes the wrong angle and gets caught up in trash and walks into double teams. he is learning and lacks discipline and his hand work is on and off and at times has trouble getting off blocks. he tends to want to power his way all the time.

he is right now just trying his size and power to get in the way, as opposed to make plays. his second year he was better. but expectations are higher for a 1st round pick and he still doesn't play like a first rounder.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Mazi Smith

Part of the reason for his poor rookie year can be traced back to before the year even began. Smith was asked to drop 30 pounds during training camp.

And some thought McCarthy deserved another chance.

Should have been booted after the GB disaster.

 

[Sydla]

I would love Poona Ford lining up next to Osa.

DT is not great in FA this year but Ford would make sense.

Which is why we won't sniff him. Because why do something that makes sense in FA?

You could remake DT in one offseason and make it pretty darn good:

- Osa
- Ford
- M Smith

Then if you draft another DT in the first three rounds, you suddenly have yourself a decent little DT rotation, much better than anything you've had in recent years. Throw in a re-signed Golston and you have a nice 5 man rotation there.

 

[stilltheguru]

Whatever mazi will be it will show from day 1 of training camp practices. He's either a bust or he needed a few seasons to become a guy in the middle. We'll see. This board sure had more patience with bossman fat for some reason.

 

[CCBoy]

And some thought McCarthy deserved another chance.

Should have been booted after the GB disaster.

Smith has two to three years to overcome the failure projections,

 

[blueblood70]

Mazi and rogers nice depth next too Osa BUT yes, a key piece from the draft or FA for starter at DT would be nice.

DE-Gholston IMHO should get shot at the right price to be a rotation DE, i mean i heard some recos from SM that names like Judon ,but Gholston's younger and his numbers are about the same as Judon and Lawson types, so i say get him back here.