In a way, the Cowboys have a problem many teams would love to have. The talent level at one position is so high that there are young Pro Bowl veterans being squeezed for playing time. Each and every of the 32 franchises across the league would love to have this problem, regardless of position group.
For the Cowboys, it just so happens to be linebacker. This makes things interesting because linebacker is a position that suffers a ton of attrition, so depth is necessary as any Dallas fan can attest to being the case since Sean Lee first walked through the Valley Ranch doors. Entering the offseason, the Cowboys had two big question marks sitting atop the LB depth chart, and the one that had been traced and retraced until a hole was bore through the paper is that of Jaylon Smith.
Smith signed a contract extension following his best season, 2018. In that five-year-added-on-top-of-the-two-remaining deal he was rewarded handsomely. Unfortunately since that 2018 season where he and then-rookie Leighton Vander Esch established themselves as one of the league’s top young duos, things have tumbled downhill.
Smith deserved to make the Pro Bowl in 2018 but didn’t while Vander Esch did. Smith was named in 2019, but he was hardly a Pro Bowl caliber player beyond a large number of tackles. Like most positions, volume stats tell only a small part of the picture for players. With Smith, his shortcomings in response, pursuit, and coverage ability were coming to the forefront. His play regressed further in 2020, leading to a big offseason decision process for the front office.
Or so it seemed.