Texas' T'Vondre Sweat Reacts to Meeting With Cowboys at Scouting Combine

The Dallas Cowboys may look to beef up the front seven with one of their early-round picks. Could Texas defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat be the man for the job?

As the Dallas Cowboys barrel their way toward Detroit for the NFL Draft, they are making a brief stop in Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine.

Here, players are measured, time, and interviewed as they hope to boost their stock. The festivities include media availability, where players and executives can answer questions and potentially give insight about the coming months.

One of the Combine’s most highly anticipated players was Texas Longhorns defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat.

Texas Longhorns defensive lineman T'Vondre Sweat (93) watches Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) before a snap during the Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff semifinals game at the Caesars Superdome on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana :: © Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

Sweat was early-round prospect Byron Murphy II’s running mate on the interior of the Longhorns line, and both earned themselves some money in Indianapolis. Sweat weighed in at 366 pounds, a nearly historic mark for nose tackles at the combine. His 5.27 40-yard dash isn’t some blazing mark, but for a player of his size, it checks the box. His 10-yard split (1.8 seconds) outperformed his 40 time, helping showcase his burst.

Sweat helped prove himself in the movement drills, too. It wouldn’t be fair to compare him to his lighter counterparts who will spend more time at 3-tech (think Osi Odighizuwa). But for a nose tackle, he performed admirably.

Dallas’ defense, notably, struggled up the middle this year. Rookie Mazi Smith’s debut campaign was a near-worst-case scenario and a long-term replacement for Johnathan Hankins is likely to be considered. How the Cowboys attack the position in the draft could be emblematic of their faith in Smith, but for now, they’re doing their due diligence.

They met with Smith at the Combine with the assistance of Texas receiver Paxton Anderson. Anderson is Dallas owner Jerry Jones’ grandson and has helped the team interview Longhorns looking to earn a Cowboys draft pick.

“It went great, actually,” Sweat said. “First I got to give a shoutout to my guy Paxton. He was in there so that was pretty cool, you know, seeing him on the other side and not as my teammate. So that was pretty cool, but it went great.”

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While meeting with prospects isn’t a particularly strong indicator of interest – teams well out of range for prospects will still frequently interview them – it was nice to hear Sweat confident that the meeting went well.

Sweat may have tested his way into the first round, but with two months to go until draft day, he seems like a candidate for one of the Cowboys’ first two selections. The offense has gotten much of the attention in mock drafts, but struggling against the run like they did last year is a quick ticket to the unemployment line.

Consider Dallas intrigued by the nose tackle at the very least.