What Jaylon Smith undergoing surgery means for Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are wasting no time to make changes on the defensive side of the ball this offseason. Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan was fired and former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn was quickly hired to take over those duties. Other staff changes on that side of that ball include parting ways with defensive […]
The Dallas Cowboys are wasting no time to make changes on the defensive side of the ball this offseason.
Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan was fired and former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn was quickly hired to take over those duties. Other staff changes on that side of that ball include parting ways with defensive line coach Jim Tomsula, while bringing in former Packers and Falcons assistant Joe Whitt Jr. to lead the secondary.
As good as the offense showed to be — especially with Dak Prescott behind center — the defense was miserably bad. Improvements have to be made in order for the Cowboys to truly compete with the upper-echelon teams in the NFC.
Cowboys defensive starter to undergo surgery.
Staff changes is not the only relevant news regarding the Dallas Cowboys defense. It was reported on Thursday that starting linebacker Jaylon Smith underwent surgery on his wrist after appearing in every game for Dallas in 2020.
Smith is, arguably, the most controversial player on the entire Dallas Cowboys roster. The 2016 second-round draft pick looked to be on his way to stardom after an impressive 2018 campaign alongside Leighton Vander Esch, and the front office rewarded him with a hefty contract extension prior to the 2019 season.
The decision to pay Smith, a linebacker with one good season at the time and who was not far removed from one of the nastiest injuries in recent history, before franchise quarterback Dak Prescott or cornerback Byron Jones was a head-scratcher then and has only aged like milk since.
There is hope that Quinn will help revive Smith's career, as Quinn runs a similar scheme to former Cowboys defensive coordinator Kris Richard — who was running the defense during Smith's career season. The Notre Dame product led the team with 154 tackles in 2020, but very few of those seemed to make a real impact in games.
As of now, Smith is under contract through the 2025 season thanks to the contract extension that was inked in 2019. But, as Cowboys Wire's K.D. Drummond explained in November, Dallas has some ways out:
So if the Cowboys want to release Smith and designate him one of their two June 1 cuts, they would wipe his $7.2 salary off the books and only have to deal with his 2020 $2.6 million bonus allocation as dead money.
They’d save the entire $7.2 million off of their cap.
There are some questions on how Smith undergoing surgery impacts the Cowboys cutting their starting linebacker. As it sits now, Smith's 2021 salary is set to be fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the new league year. Now, because of the surgery, there is a chance that the contract is "injury guaranteed".
How Smith fits into Dan Quinn's defense.
For now, we will assume that Jaylon Smith is wearing a Dallas Cowboys uniform next season. We recently wrote on how number 54 fits into the new defensive scheme and if it is a better fit for Smith than Nolan's.
Quinn’s defense features one-gap fronts that could end up helping both Smith and Leighton Vander Esch down the road. Compared to Mike Nolan’s defense, the Cowboys should improve when defending the run thanks to having more defenders in the box.
Yet the Dallas Cowboys will likely evaluate Jaylon’s future and financial impact on the team’s salary cap in a season in which the cap will decrease instead of increasing as usual.
Jaylon Smith joins wide receiver Amari Cooper and defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford as other Dallas Cowboys to undergo surgery so far this offseason. Here's hoping that all three have a successful rehab process and return to the field better than ever next fall.
Featured image via Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
