Dallas Cowboys first-round pick Mazi Smith vows to prove Dan Quinn, Micah Parsons right

Dallas Cowboys first-rounder Mazi Smith was so over the moon about his landing spot after the draft, he barely had time to come back down to earth as he took in the facilities at the Star in Frisco this weekend.

After taking the Cowboys bus from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Smith spoke to team reporter Patrik Walker about his dream come true.

“This is crazy. [I’m in] the place I wanted to be,” Smith said, via DallasCowboys.com. “This was one of the staffs that I got along with the best, and that I felt at home with and that everything was good — this was one of those places.”

Smith got to know the Cowboys staff and personnel over various meetings this offseason. The process culminated in a top-30 prospect visit leading up to the draft. Those meetings, especially the final visit, cemented Dallas in his mind as one of the top teams to join.

“Being with people who value what you do makes you want to do it better,” Smith said. “You can learn a lot from those people.”

As he walked through the shiny halls of the Star, Smith recounted what it meant to him to learn that defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and edge rusher Micah Parsons were fully in his corner.

Parsons reportedly texted Quinn on the morning of the draft: “Michigan DT.” His coordinator responded back: “I’m all about that life!!!!!!”

“I was like, ‘Maz, you gotta work harder,’” Smith said of his reaction. “I’m a hard worker but it’ll never be enough for a guy like that. So when I become part of the team, I wanna make everybody happy and trust in me, make everybody proud. Those are [my] big brothers already and I haven’t even met them [yet]. I’m not gonna let them down.”

Cowboys opt for defensive impact over OL depth

After the draft, the Cowboys’ war room footage of the debate on the No. 26 pick emerged. It revealed the inner-workings and thought process of the front office. Also, how they made the tough decision to go with Smith over offensive lineman Matthew Bergeron.

The Cowboys’ move to draft Smith surprised many, but according to EVP Stephen Jones, his versatility on the defensive line pushed him to the top of the pack.

“People want to pigeonhole him as a nose tackle,” Jones said of the Michigan star. “That would be the only thing people can say when you take a nose tackle in the first round, but we believe there’s more to him than just the nose.

That’s what he was asked to do at Michigan and he played his technique amazingly, but rarely was he going straight uphill and pushing upfield vertically on the snap. Most of the time he was playing the read on the run. When we did see it, we really liked it. He can get an edge and be disruptive.”