Did Cowboys Draft Wrong TE? Mazi vs. Schoonmaker vs. The Field
On Draft Day last year, many thought the Dallas Cowboys - after Dalton Schultz left via free agency to the Houston Texans - were targeting a tight end. And indeed they were ... eventually landing Michigan's Luke Schoonmaker in Round 2 after taking his college teammate defensive tackle Mazi Smith in Round 1.
Second-guessing is fun. A "Draft Re-Do'' is fun. But in addition to "fun,'' we have to be fair.
In CBS Sports' draft do-over, the Cowboys select Dalton Kincaid and pair him with Jake Ferguson. ... and yes, with hindsight, that might have been a spectacular duo for Dallas in 2023.
Dallas was interested in tight end Kincaid, and interested in taking a tight end high, maybe to a fault. Our Mike Fisher of CowboysSI.com wrote before the draft that Dallas was "hell-bent'' on getting early-round help at the position.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports, Gregory Fisher, USA TODAY
So ...
"This is the player the Cowboys were likely targeting last April until the Bills jumped them. Kincaid would fill the void left by Dalton Schultz leaving in free agency last offseason," CBS Sports writes. "He and Jake Ferguson would be a fun tight end duo for Dak Prescott."
Two problems with CBS's work here ...
One, we are not understanding where CBS gets its intel that Dallas was going to pull the trigger on a tight end there at No. 26. In fact, we're pretty sure the on-the-clock debate involved Mazi vs. an O-lineman.
As we wrote at the time, "Should the pick have been the Syracuse offensive lineman, Matthew Bergeron? ... There is now Cowboys war room video that reveals that Dallas’ debate, keyed by personnel boss Will McClay, came down to those two (Smith vs. Bergeron) guys.'' (Read and watch the video here.)
And two, as CBS just noted, the Buffalo Bills jumped Dallas and grabbed the Utah standout, leaving Dallas to select Michigan's Mazi Smith at No. 26.
So ... if the Bills traded up ahead of Dallas to get the No. 25 pick for Kincaid, how was Dallas supposed to sit at No. 26 and still get him?
After Smith and Kincaid's rookie seasons, it would appear that the Cowboys didn't get the bang they were hoping for from Mazi as he barely sighted the field, whereas Kincaid finished with 673 receiving yards and two touchdowns from his 73 receptions in Buffalo's offense.
Meanwhile, Ferguson, in his second NFL season, developed into Dak Prescott's security blanket, hauling in 71 receptions for 761 yards and five touchdowns, not to mention his 10 rec, 93-yard, three-touchdown game against the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs.
Comparing that output to Mazi, who only played 20 or more snaps in a game five times in his rookie season, it seems that the Cowboys didn't choose correctly.
But, it is only one season so we aren't making any final judgments on Smith. And the same goes for Schoonmaker, who caught eight passes for two TDs as a rookie.
If the Cowboys could go back in time and redo their first-round selection in the 2023 draft, would they take Mazi? As of right now, based on his production in his rookie campaign, we would have to say no. ... though again - in fairness - we can play this game with every team in every draft.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as we prove here: Sam LaPorta at No. 32 to Detroit would've been a win for Dallas earlier. Maybe at 58 they should've passed on Schoon and taken O'Cyrus Torrence, the O-lineman who went to Buffalo on the next pick.
And why not go all-out and re-do things to get what the Rams got in third-round defensive lineman Kobie Turner and in fifth-round receiver Puka Nacua?
