The Jets recently acquired defensive tackle Mazi Smith via trade and he has already played in two games for the team. Today we break Smith down in detail.
The 24-year old Smith is listed at 6’3″ and 337
pounds and was a first round pick out of Michigan in 2023. He started three games as a rookie and every game in 2024 for the Cowboys, but he fell out of the rotation this year. In all, he had 57 tackles and two sacks in 39 games in Dallas.
Background
Smith was a four-star high school recruit who headed to Michigan in 2019, although he only had three tackles and a tackle for loss in seven games during his first two seasons.
In 2021, Smith became a full-time starter and was named as an honorable mention all-Big Ten selection. He started all 14 games and had 37 tackles and four pass breakups.
He ramped up his production in 2022 to earn all-Big Ten first team honors. He ended up with 48 tackles and half a sack.
Having announced that he was to enter the 2023 draft, Smith was widely projected to go on day two, but the Cowboys drafted him in the first round with the 26th overall pick.
As a rookie, Smith played in every game, starting three, and had 13 tackles and a sack. He was also credited with three tackles for loss and three quarterback hits.
Last season, he won a starting role and started all 17 games. He ended up with 41 tackles, a sack, four tackles for loss and three quarterback hits.
Ahead of the 2025 season, some were projecting Smith to break out. However, he got hurt in camp and was still playing in the second half of preseason games as he seemed to be in danger of not making the team. He eventually did, but was a healthy scratch in the opener.
By the time Smith was included in this month’s Quinnen Williams trade, he had only played in five games off the bench, recording just three tackles.
Since arriving in New York, he has played two games with the Jets in a reserve role.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Smith brings to the table as a player, based on extensive research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Smith has good size and excellent length but his listed weight of 337 pounds doesn’t tell the full story.
In his rookie year, he was asked to try to slim down to below 300 pounds by Dan Quinn and reportedly got close to that target weight. However, in 2024, he was asked to add 20 pounds. Then, ahead of this season he was required to shed weight again and told the media he was around 312-315 pounds.
At the scouting combine, Smith showcased his immense strength with an impressive 34 bench press reps. However, due to an injury, he didn’t do anything else and then was unable to do a full workout at his pro day. He did manage to put up a 29.5-inch vertical and 107-inch broad jump, both of which were very good for his size, which was 323 pounds at the time.
Smith’s athletic credentials were also recognized in Bruce Feldman’s notorious freaks list. He managed 22 bench press reps with 325 instead of the customary 225 on the bar and a close-grip bench of 550 pounds.
While he didn’t run a 40-yard dash or do the shuttle drills at the combine or his pro day, he apparently posted an impressive 4.41 in the short shuttle, 6.94 in the three-cone drill and a 60-yard shuttle of 11.9 seconds.
Supposedly he also posted a 44-inch vertical but that has to be a typo because his pro day vertical was below 30 inches.
Usage
Smith played plenty of reps as a pure nose tackle at Michigan but has mostly been deployed as a 4-3 tackle at the NFL level. It was only in 2024 that he has lined up regularly in the A-gap.
He has occasionally aligned himself on the outside, usually over the tackle.
Motor
Smith is a player who came into the league with a reputation as someone who has a relentless, non-stop motor, but that hasn’t necessarily translated to his pro performances. The effort level is usually there, though, and he shows good hustle when chasing plays down.
He is used to handling a starter’s workload when necessary although 46 snaps is the most he has played in an NFL game. He had one game in college where he played 61 snaps.
Pass rush
Smith came into the league with just half a sack in his college career but some experts felt he had untapped potential as a pass rusher. Dane Brugler, for example, said he showed “flashes of pass rush potential”.
With two sacks and six quarterback hits in his first two seasons, Smith had some production but has still been limited in that area.
Since he is so strong, Smith can play a role here simply by driving his man back to collapse the pocket.
This was a good rep, showing some quickness to get past the left guard. However, he hasn’t done enough of this to warrant a bigger role so far.
Run defense
The book on Smith was that run defense was his biggest strength and clearly the Cowboys hoped he would improve them in that area. He did, after all, anchor the third-best run defense in the nation when he was at Michigan.
However, this hasn’t really been the case. As he became a starter last year, the Cowboys dropped off from 15th to third-worst in the NFL in terms of yards per carry allowed. With Smith not playing a role this season they are back to 23rd in that category.
You would hope that a player with Smith’s physical ability would be able to hold up to a double-team but he hasn’t been able to do this consistently as he is often driven back off the line.
Even in one-on-one matchups, Smith’s consistency against the run has been poor with analysis site Pro Football Focus ranking him 138th out of 147 qualifiers in 2024 against the run.
He has shown some flashes of ability, though, with 20 stops in 2024 alone and seven tackles for loss in his first two seasons. He penetrated well against a one-on-one block here.
When he can set his pad level and hold his ground against a double-team, this enables the defense to bottle up runs. He just hasn’t done this often enough.
Technique
Smith’s get-off has been criticized for not being explosive enough and his pad level can be inconsistent. He also can struggle to disengage once a blocker has control of him.
His most effective moves are when he can exploit his power and length to set himself up. He does that here to get to the quarterback.
Clearly he has been less able to rely on a pure strength advantage to win at the NFL level than he was able to in college, but the strength he has does give him a foundation to get his man off-balance when his technique is sound.
Special teams
Smith’s only special teams role in the NFL and in college has been on the kick block unit. He also rushed one punt in college. He hasn’t had any production within these roles.
Tackling
Smith hasn’t been a particularly productive tackler and will allow his man to slip away from him when trying to make a stop in the backfield at times. However, he’s strong enough to wrap up and drag down ball carriers.
He only had one forced fumble in college, with none in NFL regular season or preseason action.
Coverage
Smith has hardly ever dropped into coverage, although he has batted down some passes at the line of scrimmage while he was in college.
Instincts/Intelligence
When he was asked about some of his struggles at the pro level, Smith implied he knows he can be physically dominant, but that it was the mental side of his role that he was struggling with. This manifests in him not anticipating down blocks or displaying poor vision and awarenes.
Smith’s situation hasn’t been helped by the fact that Steve Wilks is the seventh defensive coordinator he has played for since his college career began.
Attitude/Demeanor
At Michigan, Smith was described as a quiet lead-by-example type in 2021, who became more of a vocal leader after being named as a co-captain in 2022.
However, at the NFL level, he’s been described as unmotivated and rubbed fans the wrong way by commenting that he doesn’t love football, just hitting people. He deserves credit, though, for adding and shedding weight on command multiple times.
His on-field discipline in college was good, as he didn’t have a single penalty. He also didn’t have one in his rookie year. He had four last year, though, two of which were for defensive holding. One was for unnecessary roughness, although this was just for being involved in a post-play scuffle on which four other players were also flagged.
In 2023, he was arrested for speeding and then was to be charged with a felony after police found a loaded gun in the car. However, he was able to accept a plea deal.
Injuries
Smith has had a few minor injury issues during his career, although he hasn’t missed time. He had shoulder surgery after the 2023 season, was dealing with knee tendinitis in preseason this year and had a hamstring issue during the pre-draft process. He also missed practice time after having an allergic reaction to milk.
Scheme Fit
As noted, Smith has had a series of different defensive coordinators during his career, which gives him plenty of experience of different types of systems. However, there should be no doubt that this has stunted his development.
At various times, Smith has been asked to either attack blockers or occupy blockers. He noted that in 2024 his role against double teams was to occupy both blockers, whereas in 2025 he was required to try and split them so he ended up in a one-on-one situation.
Harrison Phillips could be a very good mentor for him, in terms of helping him to hold up against double teams with better consistency.
In college, he was a teammate of current Jets defensive lineman Braiden McGregor.
Conclusions
Smith has been poor so far in his NFL career and will be considered a bust by Cowboys fans even if he manages to resurrect his career. Right now, halfway through his third season, he is on the brink of being out of the league.
The Jets can give Smith some valuable opportunities to be part of their rotation for the rest of this year and see if he can gain some consistency to build off. However, the recent addition of Khalen Saunders could make it less certain that he is guaranteed to be active every week and he underwhelmed in his first two Jets appearances.
Wilks has come in for some criticism this year, but as long as he is back in 2026, this will probably be good for Smith to get a rare chance to remain in the same system for more than a year.
Smith wouldn’t be the first highly-drafted defensive tackle to be a late-developer if he can exploit his physical gifts to turn himself into a useful contributor. However, he probably needs to be considered a long-shot at this stage and the Jets won’t be pencilling him into their plans for 2026 and beyond quite yet.
