3 days ago
Jay Toia fits Cowboys vision for violent DT rotation
Jay Toia fits Cowboys vision for violent DT rotation originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
If his arms were two inches longer, he's a Day 2 pick. If the league valued the 1-tech the way it did before the pass-happy era, he's not on the board in the seventh.
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But things happen. And the Dallas Cowboys may have found something worth exploring here.
Jay Toia is already taking some turns running with the 1's in OTA's, as noted as we watched practice inside The Star on Thursday.
Does that mean Toia is already more pro-ready than Mazi Smith? Or is this just more "Schotty-psychology" at work? A subtle way to light a fire under Mazi and get him "playing mad''?
We don't know all of the answers here yet. But here's what we know for certain, Toia was PFF's highest graded run stopper in the class. Toia is incredibly difficult to move. And Toia comes from an entire family of NFL war-daddies.
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Let's break this down.
Cowboys D-line coach Aaron Whitecotton has been consistent since the day he got here: he prioritizes violence, penetration, rotation, and relentless energy. He wants fresh legs, interchangeable pieces, and an interior that attacks rather than absorbs. That's the lens you need when looking at Jay Toia.
The 6-3, 335-pound rookie was a seventh-rounder in April, but don't let that shape your ceiling for him. The only reason he slid that far? Positional value. Nose tackles and true 1-techs aren't getting top dollar or draft love in a league obsessed with splashy pass-rushers.
But maybe that's changing — fast (stay tuned on that front).
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Now look at Dallas. The front office wasn't aggressive at defensive tackle in free agency, and they waited until Round 7 to address it in the draft. That might say more about their belief in Mazi than fans want to admit.
Or maybe it's new coach Brian Schottenheimer doing what he's done all offseason — turning every roster move into a spark for competition.
You need at least four defensive tackles to survive an NFL season. Some teams carry five. In years past, Dallas relied on aging journeymen like Jonathan Hankins and Linval Joseph to plug that hole. But now? Toia, Mazi, and second year man Justin Rogers give them potentially three 330+ pound bodies to throw into the fire.
The problem is, most rookie DTs don't contribute early and Justin Rogers might as well be considered a rookie, too. It's the second-hardest transition in football behind quarterback. But Toia might be an exception because of the aforementioned bloodline of NFL trench warriors. You can feel it in how he plays. He walks, talks, and breathes interior football.
But if that's not the case, which even despite early OTA reports shouldn't come as a surprise, then who can the Cowboys call on as the "mentor" in the room to help continue to cultivate the growth of the room.
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You wouldn't be wrong to default to either Osa Odighizuwa or Solomon Thomas as the answer to that question. Those two guys are well-thought of in the Cowboys organization and also league-wide, but they're both more of your penetrating-pass-rush type 3-techs and much less so true run stoppers.
So maybe this is where we glance back at something we discussed just a couple short weeks ago.
Maybe the time is coming when the league starts valuing a guy like this. But for now? If Jay Toia can play? He'll be plenty valuable to a Dallas team that needs major improvement in plugging the run.
Related: Cowboys Need 1 More Major Roster Move And Stats Reveal Why
Related: Cowboys Lack Of Urgency Creates Huge Pressure on Mazi Smith
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 31, 2025, where it first appeared.
