Mike Zimmer breaks down plan for Mazi Smith's development

The Dallas Cowboys didn’t get the production out of defensive tackle Mazi Smith that fans may have expected from a first-round draft pick. The former Michigan star dropped weight during the season and ended the year with 13 tackles in 17 games. Now, coming off of shoulder surgery and putting on weight, Smith is working with a new defensive coordinator in Mike Zimmer. Zimmer believes he has a strategy to put the young defender in a better position to succeed this year once he returns to full-go.

“He lost a lot of weight when he got here,” Zimmer said. “He was trying to be an attacking 3-technique to get up the field.”

“We’re gonna probably play blocks a little bit more, and try not to get reached so linebackers know where they’re supposed to fit — so forth and so on,” he added. “That’s the biggest thing. … Yeah, it’s what he did in college.”

Though some have shut the door on Smith considering his low impact in Year 1, Zimmer’s new plan for him should get him back in the mix. His second year will serve as the true test of whether the Cowboys hit on their selection.

“Obviously, he was a high draft pick,” said Zimmer. “I heard that he kinda struggled last year, so we’re gonna start with the basics: get him in a good stance, get him using his hands the right way, getting his footwork the right way and then go from there.

“I talked to him yesterday and asked him what weight he felt comfortable at, so we’ve gotta get him to that point first and then get his strength back, and then we’ll let him go out here on the field. We anticipate he’s gonna be a good player like he was in college, and that’s how we have to go.”

Zimmer focused on stopping the run

The Cowboys didn’t bring Mike Zimmer back to Dallas because the defense wasn’t up to snuff in 2023. Dan Quinn had the defense running as one of the best units in the league, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. A main focus for Zimmer as a coordinator is to more effectively stop the run.

When he coached for Dallas in the 2000s, he recalls one game that changed his philosophy about stopping the run.

“My first year as a coordinator, my very first game — the ‘Pickle Juice Game’ — we gave up 220 yards,” he said. “I was [also] the secondary coach and I said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna go go go, and let those guys go up front.’

“We gave up 220 yards. Since that day … we’ve concentrated on getting the run stopped. We want to rush the quarterback too, but we feel like in order to rush the quarterback you’ve got to stop the run, to get him in those kinds of situations.”

The Cowboys open the 2024 season against the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have multiple rushing threats, including quarterback Deshaun Watson. Also, prior to his injury in 2023, running back Nick Chubb had four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons. The game will serve as a measuring stick to see how far the run defense has come since 2023.