Injured Dallas Cowboys LB Jaylon Smith says he's 'gonna ball this year'
INDIANAPOLIS -- Jaylon Smith didn't want to say much.
But the Dallas Cowboys' upbeat linebacker -- sidelined his entire rookie season because of a gruesome knee injury that caused a nerve issue, dropping his top-10 talent into the second round of last year's draft -- offered a typically optimistic outlook for 2017.
"The message is: Jaylon's gonna ball this year," Smith told Paste BN Sports on Saturday, grinning as he left an autograph session at the NFL scouting combine.
It was here last April that a pre-draft checkup with NFL teams showed Smith remained unable to raise his left foot or swing it out to the side because his peroneal nerve had been stretched. But the "foot-drop" wasn't a surprise at that stage because the nerve hadn't had sufficient time to regrow after Smith was injured in the Fiesta Bowl roughly 3 1/2 months earlier. Smith's surgeon, Dr. Dan Cooper, who's also the Cowboys' head team physician, told Paste BN Sports at the time that Smith "has a very good chance of getting his nerve recovery back" -- though there were no guarantees.
Citing a source, NFL Network reported Wednesday that Smith's peroneal nerve has seen "no significant change." But Cowboys officials roundly have expressed optimism here that Smith can play in his current condition with a special brace.
“Yes," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responded on Saturday when asked if Smith could play with the brace. "I’ve been advised by all of our medical staff – the same people that advised us when we drafted him – he can play the way that he’s conditioning. Play right now. We are optimistic, as well as factually know, and we’re optimistic that his feeling and nerves are improving.”
That'd be a rare feat, but not entirely unprecedented. Return man J.R. Reed played after a similar injury in the mid-2000s. The bigger question is how effective Smith can be. Can he reach his full potential?
“I don’t know," Jones said. "I don’t know what his full potential is. We’ll never know, even if he doesn’t play with a brace, if he’s playing to his full potential from having had the injury. On the other hand, I think he has a chance of being that impact player that you expected.”
Jarrett Bell contributed to this report.
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