FRISCO, Texas — When the Dallas Cowboys took Mazie Smith with the No. 26 pick in the NFL Draft, Michigan’s defensive tackle heard congratulations from owner and general manager Jerry Jones and coach Mike McCarthy on the phone.
There was one part of the conversation between McCarthy and the new advocate that stood out.
“You broke it with your visit here,” said the coach.
When Smith first entered The Star in early April as one of the 30 visitors to the Cowboys, he was immediately impressed.
“First of all, there’s a lot of money here,” Smith joked.
But over the course of the two days, everything about cowboys started to grow on him.
“We just chipped it in with the coaches and got to meet everyone and we felt it was very relaxing,” said Smith. “After they got going, I said ‘Well, that might be real.’ Then I met Mr. Jones, and I said, ‘Oh, that’s real.’ I left there feeling like I had just left the NFL powerhouse, so that was cool.”
Smith was the first of four draft picks who were among the Visitors’ 30 through the seven innings.
The Cowboys hosted and drafted Smith, linebacker DeMarvion Overhown (third round), defensive lineman Villiami Fiocco (fourth round), and linebacker Eric Scott Jr. (sixth round). Among their non-concluding agreements was one of Liberty’s visitors, Dorel Johnson, who was also a visitor. And that doesn’t include their sixth-round selection, with returning Deuce Vaughn, whose father, Chris, is the assistant director of the college scouting team.
It is not a new phenomenon.
The Cowboys’ top pick in all but four years since 2004 has been a pre-draft visitor—both on National Day and Dallas Day, with DeMarcus Ware (2005), Morris Claiborne (2012), CeeDee Lamb (2020), and Tyler Smith (2012). 2022) do not visit. Lamb has been banned from preparatory visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Micah Parsons pays a virtual visit.
It’s not just first-round picks. In 2022, the Cowboys hosted and then drafted defensive end Sam Williams, cornerback Da Ron Bland and linebacker Devin Harper. They also signed returning Malik Davis and safety Marquis Bell as non-designated free agents after the visits.
“We’re very strategic about how we bring in guys,” said Executive Vice President Stephen Jones. “We bring in some guys just in case they’re going out, and you know they probably won’t go… There’s a lot of detail that goes into that and a lot of us want to get to know them.”
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Two-day visits don’t include rehearsal – that’s against the rules – but they have everything else. First stop is dinner at the Quarterback Lounge inside the Cowboy Club at The Star.
“Just a relaxed environment, get them to talk about themselves or talk about the things they like, and they don’t,” said Will Maclay, vice president of player affairs. “They meet a group of people.”
Players meet Geary, Stephen Jones, Maclay, Director of Scouting Mitch LaPointe, other scouts, McCarthy, coordinators Dan Quinn, Brian Schottenheimer, and John Vassell, as well as their position coaches.
In addition, they meet with the team player’s program group, a psychologist, and the medical and security team.
“You’ve got to meet all of these people within our organization, touch them, so we have a great deal of experience with all of these people and all of the players, and they can tell you this and that, and we bring it all together,” Maclay said.
No detail is too small, and the rating starts from the time the player arrives at the airport.
Whoever takes them, I’ll ask, ‘Hey, how was he acting while he was walking through the airport? What was the interaction?’ Because you are looking for it Eddie HaskellMcCarthy said. “These kinds of things. Just the whole process of going through these people and interacting with them, it’s very useful information.”
McCarthy said the Cowboys use 30 hits differently than his previous employer, the Green Bay Packers.
“The goal at Green Bay was if you had guys who didn’t have a clean medical right, that was the priority,” McCarthy said. “It’s not a mistake, it’s just a different approach. Here it is 360.” [degree] range and we’re more open to who we’re really interested in.”
Overchone said he has six more national visits: the Washington Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos. Fuhuko said he has had visits to the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans. Scott said he’s been to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings.
It may have been because the Cowboys ended up picking them, but they all had the same feeling during their preseason visits.
“When I first got there from dinner all the way to lunch before I left to go somewhere else, it felt like a family vacation,” said Overchon. “It didn’t feel like a business trip. We saw a little movie, but after that, I was talking more about my background, talking about family, talking about what to expect in my rookie season.”
Scott said, “There’s a lot of interactions. When I was there for my visits, I cared about how people interacted with each other. And when I was in Dallas, the interactions were even between the support staff and just the coaches and the players, everything is a family environment. Everyone loves everyone, and I want to be part of that.”
Fehoko even parrots Duck Prescott when discussing his visit.
He said: “Culture, brotherhood.” “I walk around with the staff and talk with the coaches, I can tell the Dallas Cowboys are all about winning.”