Tag: Jaylon Smith

Dressed to the 9s: Cowboys LB Jaylon Smith takes over Tony Romo’s jersey number

The linebacker will buy the existing inventory of No. 54 gear in order to wear his old college number in 2021, with the ex-QB’s blessing.

The most polarizing player on the Cowboys’ current roster is about to raise the ire of fans of the most polarizing player in the Cowboys’ recent past. But make no mistake: linebacker Jaylon Smith has a clear-eye view of what he wants.

Smith will switch to a new jersey number in 2021, going from his previous No. 54 to No. 9, the number he wore at Notre Dame and in high school. ESPN’s Todd Archer cited multiple sources as he tweeted the news.

Of course, legions of Cowboys fans still have Tony Romo jerseys hanging in their closets, so there’s sure to be a preponderance of No. 9s at AT&T Stadium this season and beyond. The Cowboys famously do not retire jersey numbers; Romo wore the digit for his entire playing career, 2003-2016.

No. 54 has a rich history within the Cowboys franchise, too, having been worn by Ring of Honor defenders Chuck Howley and Randy White.

Owner Jerry Jones said last month that while the organization prefers that negotiations over jersey numbers happen strictly between players, he did intimate that Smith assuming the number of the beloved ex-quarterback might call for an exception.

“If anybody wants 9, we’ll have to represent Romo on this side of the table,” the owner said in a press conference on draft weekend, “to determine how much it’s worth to have No. 9 on, so to speak.”

Smith did reportedly reach out to Romo about wearing his old number moving forward, as per Archer.

According to the team website, third-year safety Donovan Wilson, who had been wearing No. 37 thus far in his career, is also switching into his Texas A&M number, No. 6.

First-round draft pick Micah Parsons had already been issued the No. 11 jersey he wore at Penn State, taking over that number from wideout Cedrick Wilson.

With new rules governing the numbers that each position can legally wear, Smith would have been able to complete the switch next year for free simply by making his request. But to get out of the No. 54 for the 2021 season, Smith will have to buy out the current inventory of jerseys and shirts bearing that number.

Smith was one of the first players to post a doctored image of himself wearing his preferred number when the league revealed it would broaden its numbering restrictions.

“Those guys have to negotiate those changes,” Jones said regarding potential switches in April. “We are very aware of what happens relative to the personality’s identification with a number. It’s not frivolous.”

The amount of money Smith will have to pony up to buy out all the existing No. 54 gear won’t be frivolous, either.

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Parsons, Cowboys incumbents shaping up as one of NFL’s top 2021 position battles

NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks sees one of the incoming Dallas linebackers becoming the new centerpiece of the defense… possibly this year.

Every coach wants competition in training camp. Whether it’s through the signing of veteran free agents at key spots or the restocking of the roster via the draft, the goal is to let on-the-field action during summer determine who is still on the field when autumn rolls around.

And while some competitions are a mere formality, there are some positional battles whose outcomes are truly up in the air and could genuinely result in a changing of the guard when final depth charts are announced.

The Cowboys may have one of the league’s most interesting such battles brewing in the middle layer of Dan Quinn’s defense. So says NFL.com analyst Bucky Brooks, who believes “it is only a matter of time” before the club’s first-round pick in 2021 pushes out one of the team’s veteran linebackers.

Penn State’s Micah Parsons, selected 12th overall in this year’s draft, is expected to make waves in the Dallas defense in his very first year. While it would be a welcome turn of events for Cowboys fans who were frustrated by 2020’s porous play, an uptick in the team’s linebacker play could come at the eventual expense of either Leighton Vander Esch or Jaylon Smith.

“Perhaps the Cowboys will find a way to feature Parsons, Smith and LVE as the starters in their 3-4 scheme,” Brooks writes. But sooner or later, he continues, Parsons will likely become the centerpiece of the defense:

“Parsons is an ultra-explosive athlete with exceptional instincts, awareness and pass-rush ability. He adds a dimension to the defense with his playmaking skills, and it will be hard for the veterans to fend off the youngster in a battle. That said, Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn might come up with a few packages that enable Parsons to complement what Smith and LVE do as tackle-to-tackle defenders with big thump ability.”

While Parsons, Vander Esch, and Smith may indeed share time as a three-headed monster this season, it seems unlikely that the trio will remain intact in the long term. The Cowboys have already declined Vander Esch’s fifth-year option, making the upcoming campaign something of a prove-it year for the Boise State product who has endured multiple injuries of late. 2021 also marks the last of the guaranteed money on Smith’s current megacontract; his recent play wouldn’t seem to be living up to the front office’s sizable investment.

And while Parsons could conceivably make one of those veterans expendable, don’t forget that Dallas also has Jabril Cox looking to force his way onto the team. The LSU linebacker lasted until the fourth round of the draft, but has already been named the biggest steal of the incoming rookie class.

Of course, there’s also free agent safety Keanu Neal, who is undergoing a switch from safety and is already listed on the team website as a linebacker… and third-year project Luke Gifford, a diamond-in-the-rough at the position who’s simply had terrible luck with preseason injuries.

Vander Esch, Smith, Parsons, Cox, Neal, Gifford. A competitive positional battle in training camp is one thing. But the 2021 Cowboys’ linebacker corps might just have a full-blown cage match on its hands.

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Cowboys 53-man roster prediction is heavy on defense following draft

The Dallas Cowboys will go heavy on defense in this way too early 53-man roster prediction for the 2021 season.

The 2021 NFL draft dust is just settling, rookie free agents are in the process of getting signed and the teams are narrowing down their rosters to 90 players. The Dallas Cowboys did a little house cleaning to their roster when they released veteran players recently, most notably DT Antwaun Woods, to reach the threshold.

Now set within the roster rules with their 90-man arsenal, the Cowboys have less than four months to trim the player down to its initial 53-man team. Here’s a way too early guess at what the 2021 edition of the Cowboys might look like when they break training camp and head into the season.

In no uncertain terms Cowboys’ Quinn has served Jaylon, Vander Esch notice

Expect competition for snaps and starter roles to grow from low to extreme as the season goes on. The incumbent Cowboys linebackers should feel anything but safe following the first 4 rounds of the 2021 draft.

Ever watch one of those movies where the lead character looks up to the heavens with teary eyes and blurts out a heart-wrenching plea for help with a “God, just give me a sign!” request? This ain’t that.

The Dallas Cowboys have served notice that the current group of linebackers is not safe. They shouldn’t be, of course, because for various reasons the combination of Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch have underperformed over the last two seasons. In their final year under Rod Marinelli and their sole year under the quote-unquote stewardship of Mike Nolan, there has not been elite level play from the group. New defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is not going for it and in a draft that has seen six-for-six defenders picked, he’s now used high draft capital to present the incumbents with the ultimate amount of competition. The selections of Penn State’s Micah Parsons and LSU’s Jabril Cox say everything to Smith and Vander Esch without saying a word.

It’s on in Oxnard, fam.

Make no mistake about it. With full disclosure I’ll let it be known I was against picking Parsons that early in the draft. I named him by name in my listing of the only way Dallas could screw up their top-10 selection (though they got him at No. 12 after a trade back).

I don’t like spending big on linebackers.

My disdain for investing important capital (financial or draft) in linebacker doesn’t mean that Parsons isn’t a tremendous prospect. Because of my disdain for picking linebackers early and the other options at more important positions which were expected to be there and were (OL Rashawn Slater), I didn’t want him there, but he certainly has the ability to be a Pro Bowl player based on traits.

Cox however is exactly the type of LB prospect, and exactly the placement in the draft that makes my football heart flutter. The importance of Cox being selected in the same class as Parsons is amped up to 100 under the light of it being Quinn’s first draft.

Not only is Quinn entering that first practice with “his guys” as opposed to players who came from a previous regime, those guys were already on uncertain terms as far as their future.

Vander Esch is in the final year of his rookie deal. Dallas has a decision to make, by Tuesday, on whether or not they are going to exercise his fifth-year option for over $9 million in 2022. While nothing is guaranteed, these two picks seem to be a definitive statement that extension is not coming for the oft-injured player who was named a Pro Bowl alternative as a rookie.

After starting 11 of the 16 games he played as a rookie and totaling 140 tackles, two interceptions and 7 pass deflections, his production and snaps have fallen off. In 19 games over the next two years he has just 132 tackles, no interceptions and just three pass deflections.

Neck surgery in 2019 was followed by a broken collarbone in 2020. Pre-draft injury concerns have carried over to the pro game and the Cowboys should not continue to follow the path of recently-retired Sean Lee in hoping and praying that the next injury doesn’t occur right around the corner.

As for Smith, he’s simply been unable to replicate his 2018 campaign. While his injury concerns seem behind him after his horrific Bowl game injury that basically robbed him of his first two NFL seasons (he played in 2017, but not well at all), the biggest issue is Dallas decided to pay him an extension after just one good season and he hasn’t reached that height since.

Granted, Vander Esch’s injury changed the course of Smith’s season, as he was supposed to be moved to weakside linebacker and had to return to the middle, he’s on notice due to that hefty hit on the salary cap.

A player can’t have the indecision and misdiagnosis he routinely has, as well as effort questions and get paid as much as he does. Smith has the volume stats and he makes impact plays but he is the quintessential example of the stats not matching the overall worthiness of his play.

Both Smith and Vander Esch will be on the field for the Cowboys in 2021. However with Parsons and now Cox nipping at their heels, they are not guaranteed to have as heavy a workload and neither is promised to be in the starting lineup down the stretch of next season.

The youngsters will get the chance to earn their snaps under the new guy in charge and their play could easily lead to one or both of the veterans looking for employment elsewhere in 2022.

That’s a big step for a team where ownership favorites such as Smith may have been able to survive without concern in the past.

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Watch: Jaylon Smith talks Dak Prescott rehab

Jaylon Smith knows a thing or two about what his teammate is going through

Dak Prescott suffered a nasty injury last year put his future in question as he entered a long rehabilitation process.

His teammate and member of the same Dallas Cowboys 2016 draft class, Jaylon Smith, knows a thing or two about that, after having to “redshirt” his first professional season after suffering an awful knee injury in 2016 Fiesta Bowl.

The former Notre Dame standout and 2015 Butkus Award winner rehabbed from that and now stars for the Cowboys.  He recently joined NFL Network for an interview (that he didn’t even have to leave his car for), and compared what he went through to get back on the field to what Prescott is going through now.

Also included in the clip are comparisons of this off-season to last for the Cowboys and the team’s new culture they’re working to create.

Check it out here:

Jaylon Smith reportedly safe as Cowboys consider cap clearing moves

Jaylon Smith has taken a step back since signing his in 2019. However, the Cowboys aren’t considering making him a cap casualty.

Jaylon Smith signed a five-year extension worth $64 million with $35.5 million in guaranteed money in August of 2019. Ever since he inked his name on the dotted line, the Dallas Cowboys linebacker hasn’t lived to the expectations of his deal. He’s looked slow at times, missed plenty of tackles, been a liability in coverage, and seemed to celebrate making plays when the Cowboys are being dominated on the scoreboard.

It’s led to many wanting him off the roster whether it be a trade or a release, but not the organization. According to Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Cowboys aren’t considering releasing Smith for salary cap purposes.

The Cowboys are considering ways to clear cap room through contract restructures and releases.

But one option that is not on the table is the cutting of maligned linebacker Jaylon Smith, according to a source.

If the Cowboys were to go the route of making Smith a post-June 1 cut, that would create $7.2 million in cap space. Also, his $9.8 million cap hit in 2021 would be $2.6 million in dead cap money with another $7.2 million to be charged in 2022. The Cowboys would have to release Smith prior to March 21 or his 2021 salary becomes guaranteed.

Team owner Jerry Jones gave Smith quite the endorsement in November during the Cowboys bye week.

“We don’t have a player out there that doesn’t have things that he doesn’t want to improve on and can be better,” Jones said. “But, boy, I’m glad we got him. He’s one of our cornerstones and he’ll get better and better and better.”

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy echoed Jones’s thoughts once the team’s dismal 6-10 campaign concluded.

“The fact that he lines up every day, the fact that he practices hard every day, plays hard, I thought he gave us some big-time, productive games,” McCarthy said. “I think he’s probably one of the ones that was challenged the most as far as the scheme change. I just love his approach and the way he’s gone about it.”

Former defensive coordinator Mike Nolan’s hybrid scheme didn’t do Smith any favors. Although he had a career-high with 154 tackles (second in the NFL) he received a putrid 54.2 grade from Pro Football Focus in 2020. Despite an obvious drop-off, Smith was confident in what he put on tape.

“I mean, watch the film,” Smith said late in the year when asked if he saw himself being with the club in 2021. “But for me, it’s a blessing to be able to play this game. So many people thought I’d never play ever again. So for me, I’m my worst critic and I’m my biggest fan. I’m gonna keep at it, keep grinding, but the guys that know football and know our scheme and watch film. I don’t have to speak for myself. It’s all there.”

The Cowboys will have a new mastermind of their defense in 2021 in Dan Quinn. During his days with the Seattle Seahawks, he was the architect of the infamous “Legion of Boom” defense which dominated the NFL with consecutive top-ranked units in 2013 and 2014 and was the spearhead for back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, winning one title.

He’s already figuring out roles for the Cowboys personnel defensively and could possibly turn around Smith’s play and get him back to his 2018 level under a traditional four-man front.

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Jaylon Smith: Cowboys defense ‘ready to bounce back’ under Dan Quinn

The Pro Bowl linebacker recalls what went wrong for Dallas in 2020 while looking forward to working with his new defensive coordinator.

Thirty teams’ worth of players, coaches, and staff will have their eyes turned toward Tampa this weekend, watching the last two squads compete for the Lombardi Trophy they all started off chasing. For everyone but the Chiefs and Buccaneers, the chase for next year’s championship has already begun.

While actual practices and official work sessions won’t get underway for some time, it’s often those first offseason moves, those still-fresh reflections on the season gone by, those early conversations between new coaches and players that lay the foundation for whatever successes are to come in the next year.

Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith has already started the wheels turning about the 2021 season in Dallas.

Speaking this week with NFL Network, the 2019 Pro Bowler says he’s especially looking forward to getting back to work with new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

“I actually talked to Dan last week,” Smith revealed. “We got a chance to chop it up for a while, just talking about what we’re trying to accomplish and what’s in store. I’m excited to get after it, man. He’s a guy around the league that everyone loves, very energetic, he’s proven that he can win. And he’s going to get some guys that are locked in and ready to bounce back.”

Goodness knows the Cowboys have plenty to bounce back from, after a 6-10 season that most fans would prefer to wipe clean from the memory banks.

“So many things we endured,” Smith recalled, “from the injuries, to losing our quarterback, new system, not having an opportunity to really learn it fully right away; we learned as we went, the death of our brother Markus Paul- rest in peace- you name it. But when you put those pads on and you line up, it’s about 11-on-11. And we didn’t do a good enough job of executing and playing together. A bunch of highly talented individuals coming together but not being on the same page, not understanding initially what we’re supposed to do and how to do it the right way. You lose your confidence. And for us, we had to battle. And that’s why, around the end of the season, getting a chance to turn it around and just do better, it gives us momentum going into this next season. We’re hungry, we’re motivated.”

Watching two other teams- who themselves had their own challenges and obstacles to overcome in 2020- duke it out for the sport’s ultimate victory will just add more fuel to that fire.

“Looking forward to watching this game on Sunday, which will be a heck of a game. And we envision ourselves there. That’s where we want to be.”

Smith is the Cowboys’ nominee for this season’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. The winner of the prestigious honor will be announced Saturday night during NFL Honors.

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The Mighty Mulligan: Do the Cowboys regret these 5 recent decisions?

There have been so many questionable decisions made by the Cowboys in the past two years. Which one would they most like back?

So much went wrong for the Dallas Cowboys in 2020, it’s impossible to pin the failures of a 6-10 season and missing the playoffs for a second consecutive year on any one specific issue. In golf, amateur players are granted a mulligan after a wayward shot, a chance to pretend the last one didn’t happen. That doesn’t exist in professional football, but it would be nice if it did.

If granted the chance for a do-over on any single decision made within the recent past, which one would have the biggest impact on the current Dallas team today? While hindsight is always 20/20, even in the moment some of these choices stood out for what they might one day mean.

PFF’s draft recommendations for Cowboys’ ‘ugly’ defense

Pro Football Focus spotlights the Cowboys’ defensive deficiencies and lists several top college prospects who could help in 2021.

Pro Football Focus has analyzed the Cowboys roster top to bottom and come away with a conclusion that was obvious to anyone who watched the team for more than a few quarters this season.

The new defensive scheme under coordinator Mike Nolan was an “utter disaster.” When it comes to identifying their drafts needs for 2021, the club could literally pick any position on that side of the ball, according to their latest recommendations.

The trouble spots were indeed numerous. In posting 10-plus losses for the first time since 2015, the Cowboys defense in particular shouldered most of the blame. Nolan’s unit was Dallas’s worst at stopping the run since 2000, and they allowed the most points per game in franchise history.

Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, once billed as the best linebacking duo in the sport, both set career-low grades in PFF’s system. And while edge rusher Randy Gregory was singled out as a bright spot who exceeded expectations, the site’s reviews of the team’s defensive tackles were less than glowing. The Cowboys interior linemen posted a grade that ranked them 30th among all 32 teams; former second-round pick Trysten Hill dragged down that curve significantly with a 33.8 grade, “one of the lowest among the position in the league.”

So how do new coordinator Dan Quinn and the Cowboys address their defensive woes via the draft? Where do they start?

According to PFF:

“Literally anywhere along that defensive line, linebacking corps, cornerback group, safety,” goes the advice. “They could go anywhere on that roster, defensively. That’s how many holes they have. That’s how ugly it was for them this season.”

For what it’s worth, here’s what Pro Football Focus has to say about several of the highest-rated defensive prospects in this upcoming draft, listed by their overall rank within the site’s Top 100. Most- if not all- of these players will be available when Dallas goes on the clock with the tenth overall pick.

Cowboys News: How Quinn’s scheme fits, who stays among DBs

In the latest Cowboys news and notes, what to expect from newly signed DC Dan Quinn, and who should Dallas re-sign this year, and more.

The Dallas Cowboys offseason began just two weeks ago, but the club is already moving quickly. This week the team finalized a deal to make former Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn their defensive coordinator, replacing Mike Nolan after just one season. Quinn has been apart of many successful defenses in the past, and he’ll look to improve a Dallas defense that was one of the worst in the league a year ago. Learn more about what schemes Quinn may implement, and how Quinn’s preferences could impact the defensive personnel the Cowboys choose to acquire.

Speaking of the Dallas defense, a number of key contributors are set to become free agents this offseason, especially in the secondary. Who should the Cowboys be most interested in keeping out of the trio of Xavier Woods, Chidobe Awuzie, and Jourdan Lewis? Find out the latest on Jaylon Smith’s recent surgery. Plus a Cowboys history lesson that the average fan hasn’t heard before.