It’s no secret that the Dallas Cowboys have had defensive tackle issues during training camp. Mazi Smith has had a very up-and-down camp and was one of the few projected Week 1 starters who actually played in the preseason. Perrion Winfrey also saw some snaps and, like Smith, his play was all over the place.
Jay Toia is another defensive tackle trying to make the 53-man roster, and he played a significant number of snaps on Saturday night.
A seventh-round pick out of UCLA, Toia has gotten reps with the first-team defense throughout training camp, and many believed he could challenge Smith for the starting 1-technique job. But based on what we saw on Saturday night, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Cowboys rookie DT Jay Toia struggled in his NFL debut
It’s not uncommon for late-round rookies to struggle in their first preseason game. It takes a few weeks before they can get up to the speed of the NFL. But in the case of Toia, he struggled to make any sort of impact.
The Rams had no issues moving him in the run game, and that is a concern given that he’s supposed to be a space-eating defensive tackle. When double-teamed, he was pushed out of gaps and didn’t do enough in his single matchups. Toia was slow out of his stance, which allowed offensive linemen to get their hands on him quickly after the snap. Despite weighing in over 325 pounds, the Rams had no problem turning him and running through his gap.
Toia didn’t generate any pressure as a pass-rusher, which isn’t a surprise given that’s not his strength. But for him to make an impact, he needs to be a plus run defender, and that just wasn’t the case against the Rams. In fact, he was one of the main issues with the run game, specifically in the second half, and that’s not good for his future prospects.
But this was a rollercoaster debut for Toia that showed more bad than good. Run-stopping nose tackles like him take some time getting used to the physicality of the league, but his performance against the Rams was eye-opening and not in a positive way.
While Smith certainly leaves a lot to be desired as a starting 1-techinque, we can put the rest the argument that Toia should play ahead of him right now.
There is quite a bit of distance between the two players, and Toia needs to focus on making the roster rather than a starting job right now. And based on what we saw on Saturday, he could have an uphill climb to do so, even with the Cowboys desperately needing defensive tackle help.