xwalker
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Nonsense.I haven’t made a final judgment on Mazi but so far he’s off to a slow start. There’s still a long way to go with him and I haven’t given up on him. Larry Allen didn’t start as a rookie because he was a second round pick and we had a great OL that was coming off back to back Super Bowl wins. By game 5 his rookie year he was starting. Aaron Rodgers didn’t start because the Packers had Brett Favre. Tom Brady didn’t start because he was a 6th round pick and the Pats just signed Drew Bledsoe to a $100 million contract. Ken Norton was a second round pick who didn’t start his rookie season because he was injured in training camp. He spent most of the season on IR and didn’t return until December. Darren Woodson was a second round pick and he didn’t start because the Cowboys defense was loaded.
The Cowboys finished number one in total defense his rookie year and won the Super Bowl. Charles Haley was a fourth round pick. He didn’t start because he was a designated pass rusher his rookie year, but he finished second for rookies with 12 sacks. He was voted to the NFL all rookie team. The Cowboys chose Mazi Smith in the first round because he was a need. We’ve struggled against the run for years. He struggled all during training camp and preseason. The fans and media have been critical of his play. He might not have even gotten 17 snaps last week if the Cowboys didn’t have such a huge lead.
If a player becomes great, then his draft status had no bearing on whether he was ready game 1 of his rookie season.
Mazi played in the 1st quarter. His snaps were not just from playing at the end of the game.
They didn't draft him to play the exact role that Hankins plays. Last season they played a large percentage of snaps with the pairing of Odighi and Gallimore.
That made Gallimore the 1tech on most of those snaps. The snaps like 2nd and 10 that might be pass but might be run. In theory, Gallimore was a better pass rusher than Hankins/Watkins. The problem was Gallimore got blown out vs the run.
They want Mazi to become a player that can play those snaps as well as play obvious run situations (1st downs, etc..). Not a 3rd and long player, but those in-between situations.
I said pre-draft that a team might want to have him stay down around 320 and play as a pass rushing 1tech instead of him playing at 340 as a run downs only player. He was 323 at the combine but played closer to 340 in college.