• Mazi Smith shows up against the run: The former first-round pick was able to put together a strong day against the run during Friday's practice.
• Stark difference between Dan Quinn and Mike Zimmer's scheme: It didn't take long to realize that the Dallas Cowboys defense will look much different from a scheme perspective this season.
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Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
After a slow ramp-up to start training camp, the Dallas Cowboys are starting to pick up their pace. Friday's padded practice was a competitive affair that highlighted many of the changes fans can expect from “America's Team” in 2024.
Therefore, without further ado, let's dive into some observations from the Cowboys' training camp practice on Friday.
Mazi Smith‘s promising day against the run and struggles versus the pass
Coming into Friday's practice, Smith's struggles thus far in camp were highlighted by more than a few media members who have been in attendance. Some have even gone far enough to say that Smith has been Dallas' third-best nose tackle through the early days of camp, as many believed rookie Justin Rogers and journeyman Carl Davis were outplaying him.
That couldn't be further from the case on Friday, especially against the run. During the fundamental drills to start practice, it was easy to notice that Smith is still working through some of the technical changes required from him since being drafted. When taking on combination and double-team blocks, Smith struggles to root his feet into the ground to generate the necessary force to take on these “600-pound” blocks. He often gets caught leaning to the side of the double team, which puts him on one foot and unable to absorb and redirect the force of the blockers, leading to him getting displaced out of his gap routinely in 2023. This often got exacerbated against wide zone and other running schemes that require lateral movement to stay connected to his gap last season.
Mazi Smith is checking more boxes.
Shouts out to @JohnOwning for the inadvertent analysis behind me. 🔥💯#Cowboys #heseesittoo pic.twitter.com/SpVG1jpW60
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) August 2, 2024
However, once the Cowboys got into their inside run and team drills Friday, Smith did a great job of not only clogging his gap but also absorbing double teams to keep the linebackers free to flow to the ball. Additionally, when one of the blockers double-teaming him would climb to a linebacker, Smith notably was able to stack and shed to make a tackle or two of his own. The traits that made Smith a preferred target for the Cowboys in the 2023 NFL Draft were displayed throughout these two drills specifically. He was able to root himself in the ground, making it easier to express his incredible rotational strength (as showcased at the 18-second mark in this video) to move and even shed blocks on Friday.
Nonetheless, as good as Smith was against the run Friday, he was equally bad during pass-rush drills. Smith has a maddening tendency to get too high once he looks to combat hands while rushing the passer. And high pad level makes it difficult to be athletic while also making it nearly impossible to play with the power necessary to generate pressure.
Nonetheless, if Smith can build off Friday and continue to show improvement against the run (31.8 run-defense grade in 2023), his lack of pass-rush ability will be of little importance to a Cowboys defense that has been weak at nose tackle ever since Jay Ratliff in 2013.
This isn't your 2023 Dallas Cowboys defense
It didn't take long to realize that the Cowboys defense has undergone drastic changes from a scheme perspective under Mike Zimmer. While previous defensive coordinator Dan Quinn kept things simple in an effort to let his players play fast, Zimmer's defense has ushered in a litany of disguises aimed at making opposing offenses' lives more difficult in 2024.
While Quinn's defense played mostly single-high shells with under front and Cover 1/3 variants, Zimmer showed a more wide-ranging tool kit that consisted of a wider array of fronts and coverages. On Friday during team drills, the defense employed a steady diet of one- and two-high shells with a ton of post-snap movement at the second and third levels in an effort to confuse the offense. Not only did we see Zimmer's patented double-mug fronts (where two linebackers align in each A-gap over the center), but we saw safeties align near the line of scrimmage before bailing deep and vice-versa in addition to numerous other schematic tweaks from a year ago.
Moreover, instead of living Cover 1 and 3, the Cowboys defense utilized more than its fair share of quarters and Cover 2 in addition to the typical single-high safety coverages (Cover 1 and 3). While offenses were able to easily identify and predict Dallas' coverages last season, that's going to be a much more difficult affair this year.
Even more importantly, the Cowboys defense showed much better counters against shifts and motion at the snap than they did a year ago. Zimmer appears to have instilled a better plan, as the Cowboys defense wasn't plagued by free runners and vacated gaps like they were on numerous occasions last year when offenses utilized pre- and post-snap motion.
Terence Steele appears to be rounding back into 2022 form
Last year was a bit of a disappointment for Steele. Coming off a career year in 2022 that got him a notable contract extension, Steele struggled mightily in 2023, going from a career-best 97.5 pass-blocking efficiency score in 2022 to an abysmal 95.8 score (39th among tackles) in 2023. And he was even worse in true pass sets (excludes plays with less than four rushers, play-action, screens, short dropbacks and time-to-throws under two seconds) last season, culminating in an embarrassing 91.4 mark — 48th among the 50 tackles that played at least 50% of their offense's snaps that year.
Nonetheless, Steele appears to be returning to his 2022 form, as he showed some impressive skills in run and pass drills. While Steele has often been lauded for his work in tandem with Zack Martin in the run game, he really impressed during one-on-one pass-rush drills. Here's an example:
Steele with a nice counter vs the cross chop pic.twitter.com/a1to7uOVed
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) August 2, 2024
On this rep, Steele is pitted against the sensational DeMarcus Lawrence, who has one of the cleanest cross-chops in the entire NFL. Once the ball is snapped, Steele did an excellent job firing out of his stance while maintaining his balance, enabling him to get to his spot to cut off Lawrence's path to the would-be quarterback. Lawrence then employed a silky-smooth cross chop that he's used to beat some of the best offensive linemen the NFL has to offer, and it landed on Steele's outside hand — a death knell for most offensive tackles in the league. Nonetheless, Steele maintained his composure and quickly replaced his outside hand with a strong inside hand strike, which enabled him to latch onto Lawrence and ride him past the pocket.
While Lawrence isn't as athletic as some of the pass-rushers Steele will see on the right side this season, the veteran defensive end certainly is one of the most technical, so the fact that Steele was able to match and defeat Lawrence with technique is a great sign that Dak Prescott will receive better protection off the right edge in 2024.
Quick observations
TJ Bass looking goooood vs Fehoko pic.twitter.com/3yez5RtJI7
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) August 2, 2024
- Viliami Fehoko Jr. struggled mightily throughout Friday's practice, and it was most apparent during the one-on-one pass-rush drills. While Fehoko's effort is always high, he just doesn't have the athletic ability to put even the reserve offensive linemen in trouble. After being drafted for a Dan Quinn defense in 2023, he doesn't appear to be a great fit in Mike Zimmer's defense this season. It's still early, but Fehoko could be a surprise cut at the end of camp if he keeps performing like he did Friday.
#Cowboys backup QB Trey Lance drops one in the bucket for WR Jalen Tolbert, who continues to shine in his third training camp with the Cowboys @CBSNewsTexas | #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/4zk0bJmXiW
— Jett Beachum (@JetthroTV) August 2, 2024
- Trey Lance‘s struggles to start camp have been well documented, but he unleashed his best throw of camp on Friday, hitting Jalen Tolbert down the sideline for a huge gain during team drills. It provided a glimpse into the raw talent that made Lance such a valued commodity coming into the NFL.
- Don't be surprised if Brock Hoffman runs away with the starting center gig after a strong camp. While it was just one practice, Hoffman looks much better than he did a year ago, as he did well during pass-rush drills, where he showed a very impressive anchor against power rushes, while also helping create some movement for some big gains in the run game. His primary competition, on the other hand, Cooper Beebe, appears to be working through some technical inefficiencies as he transitions to center. Beebe tends to lean and get his weight over his toes as he transitions from snap to block, something that wasn't much of an issue at guard during college, indicating that the change in position is causing some technical deterioration as he gets more comfortable.
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