The New York Jets have moved on from a former first-round draft choice.
ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter shared on Saturday, August 29, that the “Jets are releasing defensive tackle Mazi Smith, who was included in last season’s trade with Dallas for Quinnen Williams.
Smith, 25, originally entered the league as the No. 26 overall pick in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. He had one-year left on his $13.2 million rookie contract.
Earlier this offseason, the Jets declined the $13.9 million fifth-year option on Smith’s contract. Had they accepted it, Smith would have been under team control through the 2027 season. However, since they declined it, Smith was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
It Was Worth a Kick of the Tires
The Jets pulled off a pair of blockbuster trades ahead of the 2025 NFL trade deadline.
One of those deals featured the Jets sending away former first-team All-Pro Quinnen Williams to America’s Team. The centerpiece of the deal was a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick. Smith was thrown into the trade.
It just made sense. The Jets were losing a defensive tackle, so the Cowboys replaced him by throwing in a defensive tackle.
Cowboys analyst RJ Ochoa told me on “Boy Green Daily” that Dallas had been attempting to offload Smith for months to no avail. So the Jets took him on. It was a low-risk versus high-reward type of move. If the struggling former first-rounder couldn’t find his footing, the Jets always had this lever to pull to move on. However, if they hit the lottery, Smith could have been a cherry on top of the pie that was that trade.
Safe to say it was the former.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini gave a blunt assessment of Smith’s time in New York: “Mazi Smith had no impact. Played in only three games last season, no tackles. Played a lot this preseason, but couldn’t crack the top rotation.”
No Regrets
As soon as Williams was traded from New York to Dallas, he was rejuvenated on the football field.
He started seven games for the Cowboys in the back half of last season. Williams finished with 1.5 sacks, nine quarterback hits, an interception, and three tackles for loss.
This offseason, the Cowboys rewarded Williams with a brand new contract extension. He inked a three-year $105.9 million contract that included $101 million in total guarantees.
Did the Jets make a mistake trading away one of their best players for future draft picks? I asked that very question to ESPN New York’s Jake Asman on “The Manchild Show with Boy Green Digital” recently.
He responded, “No.”
The Jets needed draft picks to rebuild. Williams and the team were no longer on the same timeline. Plus, Asman pointed to Williams’ unhappiness with the Jets.
NFL Insider Connor Hughes of SNY revealed that Williams had “requested a trade from the Jets on three separate occasions prior to him being dealt to the Cowboys.”
“Quinnen Williams’ relationship with the Jets has been deteriorating, and this goes all the way back to when they made the decision to move on from Aaron Rodgers. That’s when things started to change. When Aaron Glenn was then very critical of Quinnen Williams in a 1-on-1 meeting and critical of him publicly to us, that is when things truly began to spiral. He let the Jets know he had zero plans to extend…he had stressed to the Jets that he wanted to rework his deal. The Jets rebuffed that,” Hughes said via SNY Jets.
Who won this trade? We won’t know the answer to that question for many years. It’s on the Jets to take advantage of this windfall of draft picks in 2027.
Jets Dump Former 1st Round Pick Ahead of Cut Deadline: Report