The spotlight is on the Dallas Cowboys as they get ready to get their 2025 season underway on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. Cowboys fans will be happy to finally watch some football after an offseason of drama centered around Micah Parsons.
Now, Parsons is a Green Bay Packer and will not be on the field on Thursday night, and Jerry Jones highlighted stopping the run as one reason he felt better about the team after the trade. Dallas brought back defensive tackle Kenny Clark from the Packers in the deal, one of the top run-stuffers in the NFC.
Clark's addition has pushed former first-round pick Mazi Smith out of the defensive line rotation. On Thursday, he will not be in the rotation at all and is a surprise inactive for the opener in just his third season, according to the team in a post on social media.
Rookie running back Jaydon Blue, who has been dealing with an ankle injury during training camp but was not on the injury report coming into the game, is also a surprise healthy scratch, so there are some curious decisions coming from Dallas coming into this game.
The Cowboys drafted Smith with the No. 26 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft in hopes that he would become an anchor in the middle of their defense, but things have not played out that way. He still made 20 starts over his first two seasons, including all 17 regular season games last season. However, the Cowboys were still diced up in the run game and Smith was unable to make a big impact.
Smith finished last season with 41 tackles but just one sack and four tackles for loss. That lack of big, impact plays has been a glaring weakness for this Cowboys defense against the run in recent years and now Smith is paying the price for it.
The Cowboys will have to get off to a better start against the run in 2025, as there is nobody better at pounding the rock than the Eagles. The addition of Clark and the Dallas defensive line as a whole will be up against a massive test to start the season off.
