Jaylon Smith doing drills without brace

ravidubey

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If Smith can regain like 90% of his Notre Dame athleticism and improve his play recognition him and Vander Esch could definitely be one of the best LB combos in the league.
It’s that 10% that made him special. That’s a huge difference in the NFL. I’m just hoping Smith can be what Hitchins was.
 

Cotton

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Jaylon said yesterday that he ran a 3.98 20 yard shuttle drill. I have not seen that verified, but if true, holy shit.
 

jsmith6919

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Jaylon said yesterday that he ran a 3.98 20 yard shuttle drill. I have not seen that verified, but if true, holy shit.
Heard that on the radio yesterday too
 

lostxn

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Jaylon said yesterday that he ran a 3.98 20 yard shuttle drill. I have not seen that verified, but if true, holy shit.
You're right. LVH ran a 4.15 at the combine. The fastest LB was 4.07 though a lot of the elite guys didn't run it at all.
 

p1_

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Hes packed on 8 pounds of muscle, and is at a stellar 3.5 percent body fat. Whoa, somebody got serious.
 

boozeman

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Hes packed on 8 pounds of muscle, and is at a stellar 3.5 percent body fat. Whoa, somebody got serious.
It still won't matter if he can't read what is unfolding in front of him.

Too many times last year he was like a dog chasing hubcaps.
 

Simpleton

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It still won't matter if he can't read what is unfolding in front of him.

Too many times last year he was like a dog chasing hubcaps.
This is true although we don't know how much of that was a lack of confidence in his lateral agility. He was clearly much more explosive in a straight line so that could've resulted in him taking more risks guessing where the ball was going instead of waiting to read the play out.

At any rate, I'm confident that his mental processing will improve if for no other reason than the presence of Lee. Myles Jack looked completely lost as a rookie and then was a Pro Bowl caliber player last year, if Smith truly is anywhere near 100% physically I expect a similar type of jump.

The good thing is that Vander Esch is actually excellent at reading plays and slithering through traffic/past blocks, so even if Smith doesn't improve much in that regard, we'll have another LB aside from Lee with that ability to diagnose.
 

Cotton

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You're right. LVH ran a 4.15 at the combine. The fastest LB was 4.07 though a lot of the elite guys didn't run it at all.
There were only two people that ran it faster at this year's combine and both were DBs.
 

ravidubey

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It still won't matter if he can't read what is unfolding in front of him.

Too many times last year he was like a dog chasing hubcaps.
Injury recovery while working through what was essentially his rookie season.

We’ll see the real Jaylon by the end of the year.
 

Genghis Khan

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Injury recovery while working through what was essentially his rookie season.

We’ll see the real Jaylon by the end of the year.
Let's hope. But the early results weren't promising.

He COULD develop and end up great, but I don't think it's wise to count on that.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Let's hope. But the early results weren't promising.

He COULD develop and end up great, but I don't think it's wise to count on that.
Looked pretty promising to me. But I guess that's how two people can look at the same thing and have 2 different opinions. But he was fourth on the team in tackles, chipped in a sack and a couple fumbles. Promising building blocks.
 

Genghis Khan

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Looked pretty promising to me. But I guess that's how two people can look at the same thing and have 2 different opinions. But he was fourth on the team in tackles, chipped in a sack and a couple fumbles. Promising building blocks.
He does some things well when he can move in a straight line. Pretty brutal in coverage and side to side movement though, which are major parts of his responsibilities.
 

Cowboysrock55

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He does some things well when he can move in a straight line. Pretty brutal in coverage and side to side movement though, which are major parts of his responsibilities.
Last year the biggest struggle was when he got running hard one direction but then needed to go back the other direction. In a straight line he had speed and burst. But you're right, when he took the wrong steps there was no make up ability. Obviously his leg has progressed since then though, so I'm hoping that will be far less of a problem next year. Plus wrong steps are common with rookies. You'll see a guy like Sean Lee get caught going the wrong direction far less.
 

p1_

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Yes, lateral mobility is the key. He had none last year.
 

ravidubey

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He’s a tall-legged guy on top of things which makes it harder for him to change direction quickly anyways. Since college Jaylon has been mainly a downhill player
 
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