Dan Quinn was the defensive hero the Dallas Cowboys needed not too long ago. The Cowboys allowed 29.8 points per game in 2020, which placed them 28th in the NFL. Dan Quinn’s arrival was a gift from the football gods.
The Cowboys went from allowing close to 30 points per game to just 21.1 points per game, which is 7th-best in the NFL, after Quinn was added to the team. They also had some luck in the NFL Draft when Micah Parsons was selected with their pick.
Now that Quinn is no longer with the Minnesota Vikings, Mike Zimmer, the former head coach, will take over. As the head coach of the Vikings and, prior to that, as the defensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals, Zimmer has a long history of leading some of the best defences in the league. Which Cowboys players will gain the most from Zimmer’s arrival on the team?
1. Mazi Smith, D.L.
Regardless of who calls the defensive plays, the Dallas Cowboys are looking for a breakout year from Mazi Smith, but it can’t hurt to have a new pair of eyes on their first-round pick from the previous round. Smith was reportedly playing for the Cowboys, 30 pounds less than his 337-pound declared weight going into the NFL Draft. In addition, he was playing out of position as a 3-tech rather than a 1-tech.
The Cowboys may have done it to get all of their most skilled players on the field at once, which makes sense. Otherwise, I’m not exactly sure why they did it. However, Zimmer might gain more by simply returning Smith to his natural environment and asking him to perform the tasks that initially made him so good.
Even if Smith’s first-round selection investment might result in higher overall returns at the 3-tech, there will still be possibilities to disrupt plays from the 1-tech position. Smith needs to have a breakthrough year in 2024 in order to help the Cowboys’ awful-looking NFL Draft class.
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