Jaylon Smith Watch Thread...

Smitty

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Posted by Michael David Smith on January 30, 2017, 4:34 PM EST

Although an injury in his last college game forced him to miss his entire rookie season in 2016, the Cowboys remain optimistic that linebacker Jaylon Smith will have a significant impact in 2017.

Smith, whose knee injury while playing for Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl was viewed as so severe it could end his career, is running and cutting, according to Todd Archer of ESPN. Although Smith is wearing a brace on his injured knee, it’s a brace he’d be able to play in if necessary.

The Cowboys’ team doctor performed Smith’s knee surgery, and they have always believed he’d eventually become the kind of player in college, when he was discussed as a potential first overall pick in the draft. Cowboys executive Stephen Smith even said he thinks Smith could end up being a better player than the Cowboys’ two rookie of the year candidates, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott.

Smith won’t be eligible for the rookie of the year award next year, but that’s the kind of player the Cowboys think he can be.

.........

Figured we could have a Jaylon Smith related thread since he will no doubt be a big conversation piece this offseason.
 

Cotton

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Figured we could have a Jaylon Smith related thread since he will no doubt be a big conversation piece this offseason.
Went ahead and renamed it so we can put all Jaylon Smith related stuff in this thread, because you're right, there will be a ton of it, one would assume.
 

ravidubey

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Cowboys executive Stephen Smith even said he thinks Smith could end up being a better player than the Cowboys’ two rookie of the year candidates, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott.

Smith won’t be eligible for the rookie of the year award next year, but that’s the kind of player the Cowboys think he can be.
Good lord. Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

Smith has a long, long way to go. Think of how it often takes athletes two seasons to recover their old form after bad ACL tears.

Now add nerve damage and an MCL for good measure and the resultant complications each poses to standard ACL rehab.

It's a mistake to *count* on anything serious from Smith. You take anything you get and be happy at this point.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Nerve of This Guy: Cowboys Jaylon Smith claims knee is now good to go

By: Khari Murphy | January 5, 2017 12:52 pm ET

The Dallas Cowboys are firing on all cylinders, standing at 13-3 and holding the top seed in the NFC. As it turns out, this may not be the only thing firing around The Star. Perhaps the most important injury looming over the Cowboys outside of Tony Romo’s back in recent years is Jaylon Smith’s knee, which is surprisingly the mend.

Todd Archer of ESPN was recently asked on the status of Smith and responded that he should be ready to go for the 2017 season.

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Todd Archer @toddarcher
Working hard but still wearing the brace in his foot. He should be ready to go https://twitter.com/darinyocum/status/816086137705992192
7:02 PM - 2 Jan 2017
31 31 Retweets 61 61 likes

Thursday the news went one step further, with Smith telling media members he’s good enough that he could play in these playoffs.

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Jon Machota ✔ @jonmachota
Very positive news on Jaylon Smith. Says nerve in injured knee is regenerating. Believes he could've played in playoffs at elite level
11:46 AM - 5 Jan 2017 · Frisco, TX
744 744 Retweets 1,117 1,117 likes

That’s a huge jump from just the nerve regenerating. Maybe it’s Smith being excited over the progress he has made, but Smith’s explanation of where he stood went further.

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mike fisher ✭ ✔ @fishsports
.@thejaylonsmith says coulda played in #Cowboys playoffs at 'elite level' & tells me would've played WITH corrective brace @1053thefan
11:47 AM - 5 Jan 2017
83 83 Retweets 125 125 likes

The brace Smith wears is to help in his drop foot condition. The foot is unable to point forward without the aid of the brace unless pressed against the ground. Regenerating nerves are not the same thing as nerves re-firing, which is what would be necessary to get past the drop foot condition.

Back in September, Smith told Brad Sham on the Cowboys Hour this:

Brad Sham: “Have you had any change in it? In the nerve, is it beginning to regenerate?”

Jaylon Smith: “Yes, yes it is. We actually had a test done here recently and got some positive signs.”

Following, Gil Brandt had conversations with both Jerry Jones and Smith in November; both said the same thing: the nerve is regenerating. Despite the good spirits and an just-in-case activation from the NFI list, Smith will be unable to participate in 2016. However, the feeling around Dallas is that he’ll be a part of the active unit moving forward, in fact he’s expected to be participating during training camp in 2017.

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✭ DCBlueStar ✭ @DCBlueStar
"Stephen Jones told me last wk that the team expects 2nd-rnd pick Jaylon Smith to be 100% for the start of training camp." - @SullyBaldHead
9:40 PM - 1 Jan 2017
134 134 Retweets 239 239 likes

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Brandon George ✔ @DMN_George
Cowboys rookie LB Jaylon Smith said he'll be on field participating in OTAs in May now with his nerve regenerating.
11:49 AM - 5 Jan 2017
157 157 Retweets 255 255 likes

In early December, ‘injury expert’ Will Carroll, who has had his work featured by the likes of ESPN and Sports Illustrated wrote a piece stating Smith may never play for the Cowboys or the NFL at all. That seems to be fading away as a possibility, although optimism does not equate to being out of the woods. Still, Smith is running towards a return to the field, literally.

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Todd Archer @toddarcher
Talked to Jaylon Smith. Believes he could've played by now, being patient. Nerve regenerating. Brace not a factor anymore. Ran 4.5 other day
11:55 AM - 5 Jan 2017
1,262 1,262 Retweets 1,581 1,581 likes

Many front offices wrote Smith completely off their draft board and believed Myles Jack served a better option (and his knee was described as a ticking time bomb).

As many remember, the team bypassed Noah Spence, Chris Jones, Sterling Shepard, Michael Thomas and Deion Jones in the second round to take Smith. All the aforementioned names have had spectacular rookie seasons, but if Smith pans out to be the prospect many thought he could be prior to his injury, his addition to a try-hard Cowboys defense would outweigh any of the previous players’ help and would cement this 2016 NFL draft for the Cowboys as perhaps the best in their 57-year history.

All eyes with be on Smith moving into the offseason, but with his spirit and the feeling around Dallas, he should be in uniform for the 2017 season.
 

Cotton

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Cotton

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boozeman

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So, seriously what is the point of these five second clips?
 

Cowboysrock55

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He certainly looks to be cutting just fine.
 

ravidubey

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He certainly looks to be cutting just fine.
Are you kidding me?? Look at your own video. He almost comes to a full stop before changing direction.

I'm as positive as the next guy, Hell most of you outside of LT and VA never saw me post in the 90's, but this rampant homerism/optimism about Smith is silly.
 

Jiggyfly

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Are you kidding me?? Look at your own video. He almost comes to a full stop before changing direction.

I'm as positive as the next guy, Hell most of you outside of LT and VA never saw me post in the 90's, but this rampant homerism/optimism about Smith is silly.
Ist of all we are talking about a 240 pound LB who is turning around completley and no he not almost coming to a complete stop.

And if this is so terrible lets talk about these guys.



Should we be alarmed that Khali Mack was almost coming to a full stop or any of the other LB's at the combine?

It's called gathering yourself unless you are a RB a DB or a WR you are going to look like that in these types of drills and that's only top level prospects.
 

Jiggyfly

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Jeff Sullivan @SullyBaldHead

Not sure why folks are still discussing whether Jaylon Smith will be healthy for next season. He's going to be 100 percent for camp.
 

Cotton

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Jeff Sullivan @SullyBaldHead

Not sure why folks are still discussing whether Jaylon Smith will be healthy for next season. He's going to be 100 percent for camp.
Man, I hope that is true. That would give him almost an entire offseason to get in shape and be ready to roll.
 

townsend

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Man, I hope that is true. That would give him almost an entire offseason to get in shape and be ready to roll.
The good news is he's probably gonna come into camp in better shape than most.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Are you kidding me?? Look at your own video. He almost comes to a full stop before changing direction.

I'm as positive as the next guy, Hell most of you outside of LT and VA never saw me post in the 90's, but this rampant homerism/optimism about Smith is silly.
Sometimes I think you live in your own little world in your head where everything is totally different then what everyone else sees. The guy is cutting and changing directions as well as any LBer you can show me. Either you watch so little that you have never seen a guy do drills like these or you really just live in a different world then the rest of us. Absolutely nothing about what he was doing looked hindered by his injury. I know you want to see confirmation of what you have been arguing about for months. But it's just not there. Sometimes you have to accept that what your thought in your head was just wrong.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Man, I hope that is true. That would give him almost an entire offseason to get in shape and be ready to roll.
Yeah everything I have heard has him not missing any camp. Now lets just hope he can stay healthy. Because he is a special talent. I'm sure he will be in great shape regardless. He is a guy who really works his ass off in the weight room. You won't see him getting chubby.
 
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