When the news broke that Jaylon Smith was cut by the Dallas Cowboys on monday, it sent shock waves across the NFL. Cowboy fans might have expected this to happen during this past offseason, and it was a near certainty after the conclusion of this season; but, four games into the year and following 3 consecutive victories was a bit of a head scratcher. At least initially it was, until more information surfaced. Details about an injury clause in his contract that would have guaranteed Jaylon Smith his entire 2022 salary have come to light. The same clause likely prevented the Cowboys from cutting him this past offseason without fully guaranteeing his 2021 salary anyway.
In hindsight, it was well worth the cost to keep Jaylon Smith on the 53 man roster to begin training camp in order to see how he would respond to Dan Quinn as defensive coordinator. It was also a solid insurance policy in case some of the Cowboys other additions at linebacker, such as Micah Parsons, Keanu Neal, and Jabril Cox, didn’t turn out as expected. As it did turn out, those guys have pleasantly surprised and depth pieces on the defensive line who were forced into action after a slew of injuries, have really stepped up and earned more playing time. As some of the Cowboys injured players and some players on the COVID reserve list are cleared to return to action, the timing of this move begins to make much more sense than it did at first glance.
The decision to cut Jaylon Smith was not simply a financially based decision. If you set aside how much money Jaylon Smith is making or what his guaranteed salary is for the 2021 season and look at it purely from a football perspective, it is still the most logical decision on the part of the Cowboys to move on from him. Jaylon Smith had been playing much better this season than he had the past couple of years, but that is not exactly a glowing endorsement. It certainly isn’t enough of a reason to hang on to him and stifle some of the other players on defense who are better in coverage or can contribute on special teams. There are simply players on the roster that can contribute more than Jaylon Smith can right now. With all of the linebacker and safety/linebacker hybrid options the Cowboys currently have, Jaylon becomes very expendable.
It has been an interesting journey for Jaylon Smith from the beginning of his Cowboys career to its unceremonious end. When the Cowboys took a chance and drafted Jaylon Smith in the second round there were mixed reactions. Smith was considered a top 5 talent in the 2016 draft before he suffered a devastating injury in his final college game at the Fiesta Bowl. The subsequent nerve damage he suffered led many to believe that Smith would never play football again. There were several notable players that went shortly after Jaylon Smith in that draft such as TE Hunter Henry, All-Pro DT Chris Jones, All-Pro CB Xavien Howard, and a couple more All-Pro’s in RB Derrick Henry, and WR Michael Thomas. The most notable was another first round talent at the same position who also had injury concerns and that was Myles Jack. At the time, former DallasCowboys.com writer and draft guru who is featured on The Draft Show Bryan Broaddus, was extremely high on Jack. For that reason, many Cowboys fans have followed both of their careers ever since. Myles Jack has had a nice career in Jacksonville and is still playing at a high level even though he never earned recognition as a Pro-Bowler. Jaylon Smith missed his entire rookie season but was able to defy the odds, comeback from his injury, and play at a Pro-Bowl calibre level by the 2018 season. The Cowboys rewarded Jaylon Smith with what seemed to be a fairly team friendly deal at the time. Looking back on it, the decision to pay Jaylon Smith early turned out to be a mistake and as a result of that mistake, the Cowboys will be paying for Jaylon Smith to play for another contender in the Green Bay Packers. Myles Jack was also rewarded with a contract extension in Jacksonville. The question of whether or not the Cowboys were better off drafting Myles Jack or Jaylon Smith is still up for debate; but, this latest development seems to have tipped the scales in Jack’s favour for good.
For Jaylon Smith, it was a sudden and unexpected fall from grace after the 2018 season. Most Cowboys fans thought that between Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, the Cowboys had the best linebacking duo in the entire NFL. 2019 proved to be a huge regression for both of those players. Vander Esch as a result of injuries, but for Jaylon Smith it is more of a mystery. Some say it was complacency after having gotten paid. Others that he lost focus of his priorities and had become more of a businessman, more concerned about his eyewear line and his brand than being a football player. Others put the blame on coaching. It might simply be that offenses have picked up on his weaknesses and exploited them; and, that he does not possess the physical tools nor the mental instincts to overcome that. Whatever the case may be, it is quite remarkable that a player that was so endeared by Cowboys fans became a target for so much hate, verbal abuse, and criticism.
The Jaylon Smith story is an intriguing one. He is a player that has gone through more ups and downs than an elevator operator. He initially won over Cowboy fans for overcoming incredible odds to comeback from the catastrophic injury he suffered. His positive attitude and relentless work ethic made him an inspiration to Cowboy fans across the country and the world. When he went on to sign his “team friendly” deal at the same time that Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott were being portrayed as greedy and selfish while negotiating their own contracts, Smith became a model for putting the team first ahead of one’s self. Then, just as he had attained the highest pinnacle of esteem from Cowboys fans, the performance started to drop off dramatically. The charming smile and electric personality was perceived no longer as genuine but as a facade. The celebrating of meaningless tackles and pass breakups while the team was losing games rubbed many fans the wrong way. The lack of self awareness he sometimes displayed, for example: When he bragged about his individual performance, after a game against the Chicago Bears, where his team lost and he was exposed in coverage despite recording several tackles. Another example is the comment he made in a press conference where he suggested that his critics should “watch the tape” when it was obvious to even the casual observer that there was a lot of room for improvement in his game. Statistically, Jaylon Smith may have been racking up the tackles, but those tackle numbers were skewed with a large portion of those occurring down the field. The splash plays were few and far between. Meanwhile, the frequency of Getting completely fooled by misdirection, missing or overshooting his gap assignments, being unable to disengage when taking on blocks, and being ineffective in coverage had increased to a level that made him a complete liability at times.
Needless to say, even if Jaylon Smith didn’t perceive his level of play as having deteriorated to the extent that Cowboys fans were claiming, the Dallas Cowboys front office took notice and made linebacker a priority in the offseason. The Cowboys drafted two of them and signed another in free agency. The writing was on the wall for Jaylon Smith long before the team announced his release. Now Jaylon Smith can start a new chapter in Green Bay. Perhaps he can rediscover the form that earned him the very contract that the Cowboys are currently paying him to play in Green Bay. For the Dallas Cowboys and its fan base, it is time to stop whining about the contract and relentlessly criticising the player. Let us move on from Jaylon Smith and remember his time here not by how it ended, but as a success story of a guy that overcame incredible odds.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode