The Bills and Chiefs try to get sneaky, but in the end the Cowboys still got their guy in Mazi Smith

The Dallas Cowboys were all smiles and handshakes after the selection of Mazi Smith Thursday night, but it didn’t start out that way. When the team was on the clock, there seemed to be some hesitation about what they wanted to do. During BTB’s live Youtube stream from round one of the draft, we were able to hone in on the war room footage shown when the Cowboys were on the clock and get a nice glimpse of what was going on. There were a lot of conversations happening, hand gestures, and at times, what seemed like pure confusion.

There was some discussion about the Buffalo Bills throwing a wrench into the Cowboys' plans when they moved up from 27 to 25 and jumped ahead of Dallas to select tight end Dalton Kincaid. Is that what really happened? Maybe, but ESPN reporter/Cowboys insider Todd Archer doesn’t subscribe to that theory.

In the Cowboys' post-draft press conference, Stephen Jones mentioned they had two or three guys rated the same and they had a debate about which one was the best guy. Was Kincaid also one of those guys? Ultimately, they went with Mazi Smith to help strengthen their run defense. Just looking at Smith the player, there is a lot to love about this selection, but not everyone felt he warranted the 26th overall pick. Narratives like, “should he have been selected that high” or “they could’ve traded back and still got him” started circulating through Cowboys Nation. But Jerry Jones wasted no time putting those narratives to rest as he once again felt compelled to tell the media where they had Smith ranked on their draft board.

At the presser, Jerry also mentioned that they were fielding calls from other teams who were interested in trading up to acquire the Cowboys pick, and as it turns out one of those teams who wanted to move up wanted to do so in order to select Smith. The Cowboys wisely said no. The bottom line is if they wanted Smith, it had to happen at 26.

Stephen Jones also mentioned that the decision to pick Smith over the other players they were debating between was aided by Smith’s ability to help the team get better on earlier downs. The team is committed to improving their run defense. He also mentioned that depth at other positions also played a role. While they didn’t divulge anything specific, maybe that depth was from the tight end position as there are several quality players still remaining (average draft position courtesy of NFL Mock Draft Database).

While it seemed that a lot was going down when the Cowboys were on the clock, the Cowboys got their guy. If we believe what they are saying about where he was ranked (as we don’t have physical evidence this time), then the Cowboys got a steal. And considering they have been pretty sharp with their scouting in recent years, that has to make us feel pretty good. It also feels good to hear that the reigning Super Bowl champs wanted Smith as well.