2023 Cowboys rookie report: Mazi Smith one of many to get beat up by 49ers

Well, there’s no sugarcoating it. The Dallas Cowboys looked terrible on Sunday Night Football against the 49ers, getting blown out 42-10. There weren’t a whole lot of Cowboys rookies who played in this one, with four of them being healthy scratches, but let’s take a look at the ones who did play.

iDL Mazi Smith

Mazi Smith saw the biggest workload of the year in this game with 22 defensive snaps - the first time this year he’s broken 20 snaps - but his actual usage was very similar to last week’s game. Smith still only played on 31% of the defensive snaps, but the defense was on the field for a long time.

This was arguably Smith’s worst game, too, though that could be said of just about everyone on this team. He did record one tackle, making a good stop on a run play, but Smith was getting pushed around quite often in this one. Again, he was far from the only one in this game, but Smith didn’t have a great night.

TE Luke Schoonmaker

For the second straight week, Luke Schoonmaker held down the TE2 role with Peyton Hendershot out again with an injury. Schoonmaker saw 20 snaps on offense, with 15 of them coming as a blocker. As he’s done all year, he displayed some really good blocking ability.

Schoonmaker only saw one target on his five routes run, and it was actually the first throw of the game. He was open for what would’ve been a first down but Dak Prescott sailed the pass; for some reason, Schoonmaker never saw the ball thrown his way again.

LB DeMarvion Overshown

DeMarvion Overshown tore his ACL in the preseason and is on the injured reserve for the year.

EDGE Viliami Fehoko

Viliami Fehoko was inactive for this game.

OL Asim Richards

Asim Richards was inactive for this game.

CB Eric Scott Jr.

Eric Scott Jr. was inactive for this game.

RB Deuce Vaughn

Deuce Vaughn got some work in garbage time with five offensive snaps. He carried the ball three times for seven yards, but the game was already lost when he came in. Vaughn also saw work as the punt returner following KaVontae Turpin’s injury, though he didn’t instill much confidence in his lone return.

WR Jalen Brooks

Jalen Brooks was inactive for this game.

G T.J. Bass

T.J. Bass came in late in the game when the Cowboys pulled their starters, playing at right guard. Of his 10 offensive snaps, Bass had three pass blocking reps and allowed a pressure in that limited action. It wasn’t a great night for Bass, who had mostly blocked on kicks until that point in the game.

FB Hunter Luepke

Hunter Luepke played on six offensive snaps for the night, all of them coming as a lead blocker. After seeing a steady increase in usage the last two weeks, Luepke didn’t get to touch the ball at all in this one, not that it would’ve made much of a difference.

K Brandon Aubrey

Arguably the only Cowboy who had a good night was Brandon Aubrey. He made his lone extra point and also drilled a 50-yard field goal right down the middle with ease. It’s not exciting right now, but at least the Cowboys can hang their hats on Aubrey being one of the most reliable kickers in the NFL so far this year.