{"id":407501,"date":"2026-08-15T17:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T17:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/407501\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T17:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T17:44:09","slug":"jets-predicted-to-cut-former-dallas-cowboys-1st-round-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/407501\/","title":{"rendered":"Jets Predicted to Cut Former Dallas Cowboys’ 1st-Round Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

This might be the end of the road for former Dallas Cowboys<\/a> defensive tackle and 2023 1st-round pick Mazi Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Less than 1 year after the Cowboys made Smith a throwaway addition to a trade for New York Jets<\/a> defensive tackle and NFL All-Pro Quinnen Williams<\/a>, he might already be on his way out in New York.<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report\u2019s Moe Moton<\/a> put Smith at the top of his list of NFL players who need to be cut before the regular season \u2014 a damning tag considering how bad the Jets are.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, Smith appeared in just three games with the Jets and didn\u2019t log a tackle in 54 defensive snaps,\u201d Moton wrote. \u201cHe\u2019s unlikely to make up for a slow start in New York because of the team\u2019s acquisitions. The Jets bulked up the interior of their defensive line, acquiring nose tackle T\u2019Vondre Sweat<\/a> from the Tennessee Titans<\/a> and taking Darrell Jackson<\/a> Jr. in the fourth round of the draft. Keep in mind that Harrison Phillips<\/a> is entrenched in a starting role and hasn\u2019t missed a game since 2021. As a third-stringer on the depth chart, Smith may be looking to play for a third team in three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

NY Jets Signaled Smith Isn\u2019t in Their Plans<\/p>\n

The Jets declined the 5th year option on Smith\u2019s contract ahead of the May 1 deadline and will instead let him play out the final season of his 4-year, $13.27 million rookie contract \u2014 if he\u2019s even on the roster.<\/p>\n

Smith was part of the blockbuster trade<\/a>\u00a0between the Cowboys and Jets in November that brought the Cowboys NFL All-Pro defensive tackle\u00a0Quinnen Williams<\/a> in exchange for Smith, a 2027 1st-round pick, and a 2026 2nd-round pick.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, Smith seems to be the least important part of that trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jets declined to exercise the fifth-year option for DT Mazi Smith, whom they acquired from Dallas in the Quinnen Williams trade,\u201d\u00a0ESPN\u2019s Rich Cimini wrote<\/a> on his official X account on May 1. \u201cSmith, who played only three games (54 snaps) for the Jets last season, is under contract for the coming season. He will be a free agent in 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith Called Cowboys\u2019 Worst 1st Round Pick<\/p>\n

Before the 2025 season,\u00a0Bleacher Report\u2019s Matt Holder<\/a>\u00a0called Smith the Cowboys\u2019 \u201cWorst First Round Pick\u201d in the previous 5 years.<\/p>\n

Smith was the No. 26 overall pick in the 2023\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0draft.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Offensive tackle) Tyler Guyton<\/a> is threatening to take Smith\u2019s spot here after struggling as a rookie,\u201d Holder wrote in June 2025. \u201cHowever, the latter has had more time to get his feet wet in the NFL and still looks like a fish out of water. The Michigan product was drafted to help stop the run but has earned run-defense grades in the 30s from Pro Football Focus in his two seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s PFF grade in 2024 put him among the worst defensive tackles in the NFL \u2014 207th out of 219 eligible players at his position.<\/p>\n

\u201cFormer first-rounder Mazi Smith endured a particularly tough 2024 campaign,\u201d\u00a0PFF\u2019s Mason Cameron<\/a>\u00a0wrote in May 2025. \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<\/a>\u00a0in free agency, that doesn\u2019t profile as the answer to the Cowboys\u2019\u00a030th-ranked run-defense grade<\/a>\u00a0(48.0).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This might be the end of the road for former Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle and 2023 1st-round pick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-407501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}