OXNARD, Calif. – Sunday morning, 6:30, 56 degrees. Sun shining. Made me think of the line from Field of Dreams.
Is this heaven?
No, it's Oxnard.
And know it's just four practices into Training Camp 2024, but the Cowboys cannot afford to dream about what their past two first-round draft choices might become. They've got to be. Somewhat desperately got to hit. And right away.
Mazi Smith at defensive tackle.
Tyler Guyton at left offensive e tackle.
There is no two ways about it. There is a reason the Cowboys drafted those two players, not only for their projected talent late in the first round – Mazi at No. 26, Tyler at No. 29 after a five-spot trade down from 24 – but out of an abundance of need.
The alternatives at those two positions following the free agency losses of presumed Hall of Famer Tyron Smith at left tackle and veteran Johnathan Hankins at nose tackle are slim (nothing to do with size) and none.
The Cowboys need these two most recent first-round picks to become starters. Not two or three games into the 2024 season. Not next year after a year of growth, or in Mazi's case, another year of growth. We're talkin' now. Right now.
And if Saturday's "mock game" practice is any indication, and Sunday's practice, too, after working with the second-team offensive line behind veteran Chuma Edoga, Guyton already has been promoted to first team. Or at least when they called for the first-team offense to take the field in this glorified walk-through practice, there was Guyton at left tackle just left of Tyler Smith, right where he has to belong. And there he was again on Sunday, though remember the pads don't come on until Tuesday.
As for Mazi, he's been going out there with the first-team defensive line, right alongside incumbent starter Osa Odighizuwa, right where the Cowboys need him to be
So let's start with Guyton. When asked after Saturday's camp opening ceremony workout if he had been promoted to the first team, Guyton was non-committal, saying that's up to the coaches. Just goes where they tell him to go
Well, head man Mike McCarthy, what about it?
"That is the biggest thing. We want healthy competition," McCarthy said, not wanting to anoint even a first-round draft choice an immediate starter after four practices.
Guyton was a man of few words on Saturday. When asked if he has set rookie goals, the rookie said, "Honestly, I got one goal: To give everything I got."
Good answer.
When asked what he brings to the table, the rookie said, "I think I'm bringing attitude and grit."
Even better answer. Straight forward. Unassuming. You'd have thought Tyron, now with the Jets, had bequeath his presumed successor a will emphasizing word economy.
As pointed out, there is very little proven depth here. The Cowboys did re-sign the sixth-year veteran Edoga, but mostly for insurance since he inked one of those veteran exception deals worth just $1.29 million. But because of a mere $167,500 signing bonus and only $667,500 guaranteed, he counts just $1.15 million against the cap. None of that suggests he's guaranteed to even make the team.
Same for Matt Waletzko. He's in his third season, but mostly thanks to injury the 2022 fifth-round pick has only played in four NFL games and just the final game of the 2023 season, all of seven offensive snaps.
So catch my drift on Guyton.
As for Mazi Smith, pointed out recently the Cowboys need for the guy we wanted to call "The Maz" his rookie season to make a huge second-year jump after playing like 28 percent of the snaps last year. Was mostly as a rotational player, a Hankins injury reason for Smith's three starts. Got only four snaps in the playoff loss to a Green Bay team intent on running the football.
Yep, the guy the Cowboys were high on to become a run stuffer in the middle slowly disappeared, and not just from the field but also physically. The Cowboys listed him at 328 last year, but we'd be hard pressed to tell you he was more than 290 by the end of the season, the weight loss a mystery to most anyone you ask.
Seems he has found some of that lost weight, admitting he needs to be more than 290 and that his ideal weight is likely around 310-315, though spending the majority of the offseason rehabbing from postseason shoulder surgery, so these early camp team workouts are the first of 2024 for Mazi. The Cowboys still are listing him on the roster as a generous 328, but eyeball test suggests he's at least heading over 300 pounds.
But again, similar to offensive left tackle, the depth at nose tackle is concerning. Right now, it's Mazi, seventh-round draft choice Justin Rogers (322), ninth-year veteran Carl Davis (335). Davis is another guy who spent the majority of the 2023 season on the Cowboys' practice squad, save three games and 30 snaps, and is now playing on one of those veteran minimum exception deals guaranteeing very little security. Also intriguing is rookie free agent Denzel Daxon.
Now, it's one thing for little ol' me to point out the need for Mazi to emerge, but Micah Parsons the other day went on a Mazi Smith dissertation when innocently asked what he thinks Mazi can be. Hold the mic.
"It's not what I think he can be," Micah begins, "it's what Mazi has to be. When you get to this business, it's no more a choice of can, it's a will or you won't, and they usually try to find someone else to do it if you can't. So it's what Mazi has to be. He has to be dominant. He has to be a force. He has to be that guy for us."
That's what first-round picks have to be, and as McCarthy says, "No one is putting more pressure on Mazi than himself."
As for Mazi, the soft-spoken nose tackle admits, "Last year was off for me. I always hold myself to a high standard."
OK, well, Mazi then needs to get in lockstep with Micah, since he's already holding him to a high standard, and knows this is for the betterment of this defense that struggled stopping the run last year.
"You know, that's why they drafted him in the first round," Parsons continues. "You're not getting drafted in the first round not to be a productive talent, not to be on the sidelines. We drafted him to be in the game, and that's how much confidence I have. … I don't expect Mazi to do anything. It's what Mazi has to do at this point."
Not taken Parsons long to figure out new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is big on stopping the run, and is one reason why Parsons has found himself playing more linebacker in these early practices. Zimm wants bigger linebackers than the Cowboys were using last year, relying on a safety to be the third guy far too much. Zimm wants bigger defensive tackles to clog the middle, which has Mazi Smith's name written on that need sheet.
"That's why I'm in his corner, rooting for him," Parsons says. "I'm trying, hoping that I can get him better every day. Pushing his conditioning, pushing his limits because, you know, we need Mazi to be strong. We need Mazi to be that great force. He can be a dominant player. It's just will and mindset."
Might as well have said the same about Guyton.
The need is great. So is the urgency.
No time for mere dreaming.
