Another case of drafting for need instead of value.
They pretty much whiffed on their 1st and 2nd picks that season. When you go back and look at the players they could have taken it just makes a guy want to cry.
The scouting department is beginning to lose some credibility, it seems as though they alternate from great to terrible each year in the draft.
Maybe. There are other possibilities as well:
1. Quinn wanted Mazi and since he was the DC he might have had his way.
2. Jerry overruled the coaches and the scouts to satisfy the fans who have been clamoring for the "big, fat guy in the middle" to shore up the run defense.
3. Mazi just convinced the Cowboys to take him based on interviews, etc., in other words he did a great sales job to get on the team.
4. Mazi is only in it for the money, once he got the $6.6 million signing bonus he has quit really trying, playing more to not get hurt than affect the other teams' offenses.
The above have (at least to me anyway) varying degrees of possibility, and not saying any are true, just noting placing all the blame on the scouting dept may not be accurate...