06/02/2025
The Cowboys may have landed a steal with rookie seventh round pick (No. 217 overall) Jay Toia, a 6-foot-2, 342-pound UCLA product Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report called one of the NFL’s top “Draft-Day Steals” following the start of OTAs. “(Toia) is a powerful, old-school nose tackle capable of eating up blocks, resetting the line of scrimmage and (will) allow those around him to make plays while he does the dirty work,” Sobleski wrote on June 1
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Nick Harris reported Toia was already seeing work with the Cowboys’ starters during OTAs.
“Cowboys DT Jay Toia (rookie seventh-round pick) saw some burn with the ones today,” Harris wrote on his official X account on May 29.
Toia has already shown a high level of proficiency doing the hardest thing his position is asked to do — stopping the run. ESPN’s Field Yates praised him for exactly that following the draft.
“After adding the best run blocker in the class early in Alabama’s Tyler Booker, the Cowboys selected one of the best run defenders late in Toia,” Yates wrote on April 29. “He anchored UCLA’s run defense, which gave up only 2.7 yards per attempt in 2023 (second best in the FBS). With great size, power and violent hands, Toia makes life easier for linebackers against the run. But he will be a minimal factor on passing downs.”
The Cowboys’ base defense uses 2 defensive tackles — any elite defense needs at least 3 and possibly 4 interior defensive linemen getting significant reps over the course of a season.With the average size of the five offensive linemen named NFL All-Pro in 2024 at approximately 6-foot-4 and 319 pounds, we need someone to compare and hold off the other monsters!
Jay Toia met with the media to discuss his goals as he enters the NFL, who he compares his game to, and more. t...