Mazi Smith and Tyrone Tracy
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Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith and New York Giants running back Tyrone Tracy.
In the wake of trading away the NFL’s best defensive player by sending Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers on August 28, the Dallas Cowboys now have bigger problems than just replacing one NFL All-Pro edge rusher.
Their defense’s identity, in no small part, was linked to Parsons. Now, they have no identity. In turn, they also seem to have no hope of being a competitive team in 2025.
It’s created a situation where the Cowboys are staring down a season in which they might not have the NFL’s worst defense … but they’re going to be in the running.
“Now, we’re looking at a team, maybe outside of Miami, with the worst defensive two deep in the league,” The Ringer’s Diante Lee said on “The Ringer NFL Show” following the trade. “We’re talking about a defense that has dealt with injury issues for what feels like the last four years in row, where these guys have been very athletic, they can fly around, but when they’re not forcing turnovers, teams can dictate the terms … and then you get to the end of the season and these guys can’t hold up against anybody that has any kind of run game or can hold up in pass protection.”
We will get a look at exactly how bad the Cowboys are going to be on defense right away — they open the regular season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, September 4.
Cowboys Dealing With Multiple Injury Issues
Even before the Parsons trade, the Cowboys were dealing with injury issues on defense that were going to make 2025 an uphill battle.
One of the breakout stars for the Cowboys defense in 2024, linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, suffered a catastrophic knee injury in Week 14 and won’t be back until November or December. It was Overshown’s second season ending knee injury in 3 seasons.
In the secondary, All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs is also coming off his second season-ending knee injury in 3 years and almost certainly won’t play in the opener. This year’s second round pick and a potential starter, cornerback Shavon Revel, is also trying to come back from a torn ACL suffered last season at East Carolina.
Cowboys Bring In High Priced DT In Trade
The Cowboys didn’t come away from the Parsons trade empty handed.
They got a defensive starter in return in aging, 2-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark, as well as a pair of first round picks. One of those picks could still be used to bring in another defensive star if, by some miracle, the Cowboys are somehow still in contention before this year’s trade deadline.
The fact the Cowboys went after a defensive tackle in the trade speaks to another one of their failures — defensive tackle and 2023 first round pick Mazi Smith, who is behind Clark on the depth chart.
It’s also worth pointing out the Cowboys are spending a ton of money at defensive tackle — which is never good.
Clark is due $10.5 million in 2025 along with $21 million in 2026. The other starting defensive tackle, Osa Odighizuwa, is due to make $22.5 million this season after signing a 4-year, $80 million contract extension on March 4.