The New York Jets’ trade deadline was absolute chaos. Two All-Pros were shipped out, rumors were flying everywhere, and the fan base was trying to make sense of it all.

Lost in the shuffle was a small but interesting acquisition: defensive tackle Mazi Smith from the Dallas Cowboys.

A former first-round pick who never quite found his footing in Dallas, Smith was thrown into the trade package for Quinnen Williams, overshadowed by a first-round pick and a second-round pick. Smith now gets a chance to start over with the Jets.

The question is simple: Can he show why he was drafted so high?

For a team that just dealt its defensive anchor in Williams, this is a low-risk swing on a player with possible upside.

If Smith can get back to playing with the power and quickness that made him a top prospect at Michigan, the Jets might have quietly found themselves a valuable piece for the future.

However, will he be able to reach that level in the Big Apple?

Can Smith resurrect his career with the Jets?

A first-round pick (26th overall) in 2023, Smith never got rolling the way Dallas expected.

In two seasons with the Cowboys, Smith played 34 games and logged 828 defensive snaps, finishing with two sacks, six quarterback hits, and 16 total pressures—not exactly the impact fans hoped for when the team invested a first-round pick in the Grand Rapids native during the 2023 draft.

What was supposed to be a strength for Smith, his run defense, became an area of concern. Pro Football Focus rated Smith with a run defense grade below 40.0 in each of his three seasons in Dallas.

After starting every game in 2024, Smith’s role shrank fast. He went from being a full-time starter to barely seeing the field in 2025, even landing on the inactive list a few times, which says a lot given how rough the Cowboys’ defense has been. Overall, Smith played just 89 snaps across five appearances this season, recording no sacks, no quarterback hits, two hurries, and three tackles.

In New York, Smith will get the snaps he needs to prove himself, but that doesn’t mean he’ll suddenly turn into the player many once expected.

Unlike wideout Adonai Mitchell, who has shown enough potential to have a realistic chance of carving out a role on offense, Smith hasn’t flashed nearly enough to suggest he can be a real difference-maker for the Jets’ defense.

At this stage, it’s clear Smith just hasn’t put it together at the NFL level. The explosiveness and run-stuffing quickness that made him stand out at Michigan haven’t translated to Sundays.

Here’s a look at Smith’s 2024 production, when he started all 17 games as a second-year player, and how those numbers stacked up among 106 qualified defensive tackles (minimum 300 snaps):

  • 35.9 PFF run defense grade (101st)
  • 6.0% run-stop rate (64th)
  • 49.6 PFF pass-rush grade (100th)
  • 0.9% pass-rush win rate (106th)

For Smith, this is the kind of shot you don’t take for granted. The Jets don’t need him to save their defense or live up to his draft slot; they’re just giving him a chance to figure it out.

It’s a clean slate for the Michigan product—an opportunity to show he belongs.

For a player trying to restart his career, that’s all you can really ask for.