Why Jerry Jones remains confident in first-round picks Tyler Guyton and Mazi Smith
Since 2014, the Dallas Cowboys have the highest percentage of draft picks that have turned into All-Pro talents (12.6-percent) of any team in the NFL. The promotion of Will McClay to assistant director of player personnel that offseason has paid dividends for a franchise that needed help in drafting consistently.
Of the 11 first-round picks that have been made by the franchise since 2014, only three have not earned a Pro Bowl nod. The experiment of Taco Charlton in 2017 only lasted two seasons before he was released by the team and subsequently found his way to the UFL. The two other exceptions are 2023 first-round pick Mazi Smith and 2024 first-round pick Tyler Guyton.
While each has not had a legitimate opportunity to earn a postseason honor, especially in Guyton’s case, the growing pains of the NFL have seemed to hinder the last two first-round picks for the franchise more than others in years past such as Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb.
For Guyton, it could have been easily expected. While his 6-foot-7, 322-pound frame combines with elite power and athleticism, his experience coming into the NFL was limited to just 14 starts at the collegiate level. By the time his rookie season concludes, he will have doubled his lifetime experience playing offensive line after transitioning from defensive tackle during his college days.
Through 10 games, Guyton has allowed 23 quarterback pressures and five sacks, but the real growing pain has been seen in the penalty department. Guyton is second among all players in the NFL with 16 flags thrown.
Despite his adapting to the NFL being a bit rougher than other rookies in his class, owner and general manager Jerry Jones pointed to his untapped potential that still has yet to play out as a reason to remain confident in the Oklahoma product.
“You cannot make numerous mistakes relative to penalties, you can’t do that,” Jones said. “But he’s learning to be the potential player that we all see many times out there during the course of a game. The main thing is that he has the right attitude and he’s smart. I’m not concerned about his future at all. In fact, I’m encouraged about his future.”
After Guyton suffered a high ankle sprain in the team’s Thanksgiving Day win over the Giants, Chuma Edoga was inserted in his place. Asim Richards has also come in for Guyton when penalties have stacked up.
“Guyton has been limited by the fact that this is his first year,” Jones said. “There’s a lot that goes into that saying. It has to do with not only fighting through nicks, fighting through the injury, but it has to do with the experience of professional play by an offensive lineman.”
For Smith, his rookie season took on a negative spotlight when he saw his weight drop below 300 pounds and his impact on the field fall off with it. In his second season, Smith is graded as the 113th best defensive tackle out of 116 eligible players through 13 weeks and sports one of the lowest run defense grades among all defenders.
Still, Jones sees improvement in his starting nosetackle, as he calls back to a phrase he heard from former Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry to enhance confidence in Smith’s development.
“Don’t ever give up on a defensive lineman, the big guys, until you’ve seen them for three years,” Jones said. “Because they can really evolve and be a different player after three years.”
When asked if he still had confidence in Smith getting better, Jones was even more straight-forward in his belief in the Michigan product.
“Yes, I do,” he said. “When you’re drafting [a first-round] pick, there are high expectations. Especially to be drafted there in the middle as a noseguard. He’s had unique circumstances in that there was a little ambiguity there about how to play him [as a rookie]. We always want more. You want a big block in there to completely clog that middle up, but ideally you’d like to have a big guy out there that can also have quick twitch, hit that gap and cause some havoc.”
Smith was regarded out of college for having world class strength and athleticism for his 6-foot-3, 337-pound size. While that strength does show up on Sundays, the technique of playing in the middle of the defensive line has been the facet of his game that has drawn the most criticism.
“He’s an outstanding athlete for his size,” Jones said. “He’s as strong as anyone we’ve had around here since Larry Allen. It sounds like an exaggeration but it’s not…All of that is there. Everybody wants to get more than the block of granite sitting in the middle that stops everything up, and that will come. Give it time, it will come.”
