Jaylon Smith To Be Ready For OTAs?

Cowboys’ 2016 second-round pick Jaylon Smith is expected to be ready for OTAs, as Josh Clark of CBS-DFW writes. Smith, of course, was expected to be a Top-10 pick in the 2016 draft, but a major knee injury suffered late in his collegiate career put his NFL dreams in flux and caused his draft stock to plummet. Dallas eventually nabbed him with the 34th-overall selection, knowing he would miss at least his entire rookie season but betting on his vast upside.

Since then, there have been differing viewpoints on whether Smith will be able to contribute in 2017. Dallas brass, inevitably, has expressed the most optimism, whereas national reporters have heard less promising opinions. For instance, we heard in March that there has been no significant change in the nerve damage in Smith’s knee, and that, despite the public statements issued by club owner Jerry Jones and COO Stephen Jones, the team is not especially bullish on Smith’s prospects.

It is therefore worth noting that this most recent report is based on a statement from Stephen Jones and should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Smith has been participating in the team’s voluntary offseason workouts at The Star in Frisco, which is certainly good news, but it is unclear at this point exactly what those workouts entail.

Stephen Jones, though, has doubled down on his public stance, saying he’s “more fired up than ever” that Smith is on the team, and that the Notre Dame product is “making great improvements.” He added:

“[Smith’s] another guy that when you look at how we improve our defense over last year, him and (Charles) Tapper both, as we all know, were high picks for us that didn’t contribute last year. We certainly have high hopes for both of those guys and feel like they’re going to be ready to go here when OTAs and minicamp start.”

Given Smith’s potential, it would be good not just for the Cowboys, but for football is a whole, if Jones is right.