The Dallas Cowboys have provided more laughs than most division rivals should over the last few years, and New York Giants fans can once again look at Jerry Jones with a great degree of scorn and mockery after the fate that has befallen former first-round pick and starting defensive tackle Mazi Smith
After the Cowboys became the laughingstock of the NFL world by trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for a below-market value package headlined by defensive tackle Kenny Clark, it has now become crystal clear that everyone in the organization is admitting that Smith is never going to be the player they thought he would become.
Smith was named a healthy scratch for Dallas in their season-opening game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Jones' entire rationale for trading Parsons outside of the contract squabble seems to be trying to improve his team's run defense, which was the entire reason Smith was picked in the first place.
In a nutshell, Jones seemingly felt so ticked off by Smith's poor performance in stopping the run that he was willing to send away perhaps the best defensive player in the game in Parsons to address this issue. Smith is quickly becoming more like Taco Charlton than Charles Haley.
Giants fans can laugh at Cowboys after Mazi Smith ruled inactive
Smith was a workout warrior with tremendous size, and he was able to stop the run fairly effectively in his college days at Michigan. For some reason, he has not been able to put it all together at the NFL level, much to the delight of Giants fans who love Dallas misery.
While the Giants are not expected to win many games in Jaxson Dart's rookie season, they will be able to stand toe-to-toe with a Cowboys team that is coming off an injury-filled Dak Prescott season, hired Brian Schottenheimer as their head coach, and just traded away Parsons for pennies on the dollar.
Anything that is bad news for the Cowboys is good for the Giants, and this sign that Dallas has already pulled the plug on someone they thought was going to be a defensive cornerstone at the start of his third season speaks to the raw level of chaos and confusion permeating that franchise.