Well, these two guys just became my first draft cutup watches of 2023.
The player Mazi reminds me of is actually Tyler Smith, in that he's just so naturally strong that he can generate power from bad positions. He didn't have good leverage a lot of the time, but he didn't need good leverage. I never saw him go further than 2 yards backwards, even vs double teams. He can always just sit his *** down and anchor.
His movement skills come in flashes. You see really good straight-line speed through open lanes, you see really good lateral agility when he has to move to match wide zone, you'll see him rip off of a guard and fly to the QB, but he never puts it together and wrecks games. 2.5 TFLs and 0.5 sacks is a super sketchy stat line for a supposed first round pick.
Benton is a REALLY sound run defender. He never just stands there and plays paddy-cake with guards... he's always low, he's always looking for an angle to get penetration. Him being a wrestler makes so much sense. His combination of natural strength and good technique is honestly pretty awesome. I just don't see a lot of tools as a pass rusher... he's straight-line fast, but not explosive and not agile at all. And he doesn't show a lot of finesse as a pass rusher, and plays it a lot like the run. Just kind of bull rushing and looking for an angle.
I'd grade Mazi as a pick #30-50 kind of player and Benton as a 50-70 kind of player. Mazi is a raw bag of tools right now, and I would not feel good about spending a first rounder on a DT with 2.5 TFLs. But I think that his worst case pretty similar to Benton's best case, as plugger NTs. Benton has a little higher floor, but IMO his floor and ceiling are almost touching each other. He'll play a lot of years in the league as an A'Shawn Robinson type. Mazi is Robinson if he doesn't work out and Kenny Clark if he does.
