Spagnola: Step-By-Step Return Of The ‘Real Deal’ No Longer Far-Fetched
Wednesday, August 02, 2017 5:38 PM CDT
By Mickey Spagnola
OXNARD, Calif. – You guys know me, just don’t catch me jumping to conclusions. Never been one of those guys needing to be the first one on the block to have …
I’d rather be right than first. Little hyperbole, too.
So, let’s qualify this: The Cowboys have only been in camp a little more than a week. Eight full practice sessions, not counting the walk-throughs. Only six of those eight in pads before jetting off on Wednesday to Cleveland to play in Thursday night’s Pro Football Hall of Fame preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals.
In other words, it’s early. Got a long way to go before opening the season on Sept. 10 against the New York Giants.
But from what I saw on Saturday and Sunday, and then again on Tuesday, in pads, these Dallas Cowboys have every right so far to be highly encouraged by the progress Jaylon Smith is making. Highly, I say.
Now, it’s one thing for Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett to say, “I think he’s getting better and better. He’s very active, around the ball the ball a lot. He’s moving better and has done a really good job with the work we’ve given him.”
Though notice Garrett measures his words each time he has spoken about Jaylon. He didn’t say the second-year linebacker recovering from that severe knee injury, one including a torn ACL along with damage to his peroneal nerve that has caused him lingering drop foot, will be ready to start at middle linebacker in the season opener. He didn’t say the charismatic Smith will even be ready to play in that season opener.
Just says he’s getting better and better, subtly cautioning everyone else not to get too far ahead of themselves with these far-out projections for a guy who has not played in a football game since Jan. 1, 2016. Why, he took part in his first padded practice since the injury on July 26, as pointed out to him 572 days since he last had put the pads on. A total of eight whole snaps in team drills. Then, after two consecutive days off, he participated in back-to-back padded practices over the weekend before given a day to rest on Monday. But he was back out there on Tuesday.
And as I’ve said after that first padded practice, Jaylon Smith looked like a guy who had not played actual football in 572 days.
But Saturday was different. So was Sunday. So was Tuesday.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was not blowing smoke at you when he said of the Cowboys’ 2016 second-round draft choice, “Saw more explosion, and that can be more confidence.”
Hey, anyone would have been a tad hesitant after not playing football in pads for so long, especially since returning from the horrific knee injury while trying to still play through drop foot. Probably experiencing, as Bill Parcells would say, “a little toe-dipping.” You know, testing to see if the water is warm enough to swim in. Hey, this is big-boy football out here.
But on Saturday, well … let’s gain some perspective this way. Long-time acquaintance Dave McGinnis was at practice. We go back to 1977, his last year as a defensive backs coach at the University of Missouri when I was a young newspaper reporter in Columbia, Mo. You might recognize the name, McGinnis, former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for three and a half seasons (2000-2003) after serving as their defensive coordinator for the previous four and a half years. He last served as Jeff Fisher’s assistant head coach with the Rams from 2012-16.
McGinnis, from Snyder, Texas, having played his college ball at TCU, came out to practice on Saturday. We were catching up when the Cowboys went into a team drill, 11-on-11, when the second-team defense came in.
And I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time. Find someone who didn’t know who 54 was, didn’t know he was the guy trying to make the unprecedented recovery from peroneal nerve damage to resume playing football at the NFL level.
“Hey Dave, do me a favor. Tell me what you think of 54 out there at middle linebacker,” I told him. No name. Just number.
He watched a play or two. His eyes lit up after watching 54’s movement. And it dawned on him: “Is that Jaylon Smith?”
Sure is.
Then came the play that caught everyone’s eye. Smith moved left on a running play, shot through a gap to make the would-be tackle at the line of scrimmage, his best, most encouraging play of camp. No hesitation. No noticeable limp. Pow.
“If I were coaching him, I’d be ecstatic,” said McGinnis, knowing where the kid had been at Notre Dame and what’s he’s trying to overcome. “That’s the real deal, went downhill and closed. He’s the real deal.”
To me, that means the kid has a chance. A real chance. Now, how long it takes, no one knows for sure. But as I’ve been saying, all signs have been encouraging after he missed all of last season rehabbing and praying that damaged nerve regenerates. Darn thing is beginning to.
Maybe the guy pulling hardest for Jaylon is Cowboys lead physician Dr. Dan Cooper, who performed the surgery on the linebacker, not knowing at the time the Cowboys would end up gambling a second-round pick on him. He’s been here for the past four practices. He, too, is encouraged by the progress, though obviously optimistic over Jaylon’s chances to play football again when the Cowboys thoroughly consulted him before making the investment many snickered at last year.
Well, Smith is making incremental progress, and the Cowboys sent him out there on Tuesday to participate on the goal-line defense with the second team. He mixed it up pretty well on the four or so plays. And on one, ostensibly a first-and-goal play from the 1-yard line, Jaylon nailed the ball carrier at the goal line. Again, coming downhill.
Still, step by step. The Cowboys are in no rush to push Smith at a reckless pace. They are not desperate at middle linebacker, and last year’s starter, Anthony Hitchens, has been reminding them of that since the start of camp, seemingly ready to improve himself on the fine season he had in 2016.
Plus, let’s remember just how young Smith is. I had forgotten, but he came out a year early. He just turned 22 on June 14. The Cowboys will treat him as the precious commodity he is. That’s why there would be no reason after just these handful of padded practices (four) to send him out there Thursday night in the first of five preseason games. There is plenty of time. So, don’t be disappointed or grow worrisome over his anticipated inactivity against the Cardinals.
As Garrett continually reminds, the team has a plan for Jaylon Smith, and hurry-up is not part of it. Patience indeed will be a virtue, too, in this case.
“You’re seeing what we’re seeing,” Jones said on Tuesday. “We’re seeing progress.”
And being involved in a full-contact tackling drill was the next step. Remember, this isn’t easy. Returning to the football field after such a long absence is nothing like riding a bicycle. Especially playing middle linebacker in the NFL. Especially since that nerve has not yet come close to totally regenerating. Especially since he still wears the brace that bends his foot upwards to counter the drop foot.
But after just the first week of training camp, tangible evidence has realistic hope gurgling through that initial pessimism expressed by those suggesting the Cowboys were crazy to take this chance in the second round.
Heck, even an outsider could see that Jaylon Smith has a chance to still be the real deal.
