Any news on Jaylon Smith?

[AbeBeta]

I'm not sure why people keep harping on this when it is crystal clear the Cowboys didn't want to go that direction.

He was the next player on their board. So I don't think your statement is accurate.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

He was the next player on their board. So I don't think your statement is accurate.

Broaddus (or Eatman) was saying this on the podcast the other day, but think about if Dallas took Myles Jack with the 2nd rounder and came back and took Jaylon Smith in the 3rd round? And before anyone starts in with the "but New England wanted..." take, it's already been disproven.

 

[aikemirv]

I am not sure how you can PROVE that a player was not wanted by a club, or 30 other teams either......

 

[Cowboys22]

So there's been no progress since April?

There isn't supposed to be any. The nerve has to grow 6 inches and then refire. It's not a gradual improvement type of thing. Once the nerve finally reaches the muscle it should at some point begin to fire. Once it starts to fire, it will be a relatively quick recovery from there. He has rehabbed the knee to the point it is no longer an issue. He simply needs to regain control of his foot.

 

[Sydla]

Broaddus (or Eatman) was saying this on the podcast the other day, but think about if Dallas took Myles Jack with the 2nd rounder and came back and took Jaylon Smith in the 3rd round? And before anyone starts in with the "but New England wanted..." take, it's already been disproven.

Kind of hard to disprove that. Some in the media said it wasn't true but we honestly don't know for sure what NE was going to do, or any other team for that matter.

 

[phildadon86]

Kind of hard to disprove that. Some in the media said it wasn't true but we honestly don't know for sure what NE was going to do, or any other team for that matter.

yeah exactly, its not like we were in NE war room. Belichek is known for taking risks, but Smith and Jack in the same draft as Dak and Elliott? Jesus. JJ would be up for another GM of the year award.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I am not sure how you can PROVE that a player was not wanted by a club, or 30 other teams either......

Broaddus said he talked to his insiders that work for the Patriots and they said it wasn't true.

If people wanna then say "well, how do we know they're telling the truth to Broaduss..." then we may as well say we going to trade Romo for Brady because there's no way to confirm or disprove anything.

 

[Jarv]

There isn't supposed to be any. The nerve has to grow 6 inches and then refire. It's not a gradual improvement type of thing. Once the nerve finally reaches the muscle it should at some point begin to fire. Once it starts to fire, it will be a relatively quick recovery from there. He has rehabbed the knee to the point it is no longer an issue. He simply needs to regain control of his foot.

So did his old nerve disappear? I thought it was stretched not removed, that's what I can't figure out. When you say regrow do you mean regenerate?

 

[Cowboys22]

So did his old nerve disappear? I thought it was stretched not removed, that's what I can't figure out. When you say regrow do you mean regenerate?

No, it is still there but can no longer fire due to the damage. Typically, the new nerve will grow using the old nerve as a pathway but sometimes it doesn't follow and never reaches the intended muscle. That is what we are all waiting to see happen. I guess you could say regenerate but basically a brand new nerve has to grow from the damaged area down to the muscle. We are approaching the timeframe given for the nerve to reach the muscle. They have devices that can show the nerve growth and it would be nice for an update stating the nerve has grown so many inches and is growing the right direction but we aren't getting those. That makes me nervous and if still nothing in about another month, I will be officially worried that it's not going good.

 

[Jarv]

No, it is still there but can no longer fire due to the damage. Typically, the new nerve will grow using the old nerve as a pathway but sometimes it doesn't follow and never reaches the intended muscle. That is what we are all waiting to see happen. I guess you could say regenerate but basically a brand new nerve has to grow from the damaged area down to the muscle. We are approaching the timeframe given for the nerve to reach the muscle. They have devices that can show the nerve growth and it would be nice for an update stating the nerve has grown so many inches and is growing the right direction but we aren't getting those. That makes me nervous and if still nothing in about another month, I will be officially worried that it's not going good.

Excellent explanation, thank you!

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

No, it is still there but can no longer fire due to the damage. Typically, the new nerve will grow using the old nerve as a pathway but sometimes it doesn't follow and never reaches the intended muscle. That is what we are all waiting to see happen. I guess you could say regenerate but basically a brand new nerve has to grow from the damaged area down to the muscle. We are approaching the timeframe given for the nerve to reach the muscle. They have devices that can show the nerve growth and it would be nice for an update stating the nerve has grown so many inches and is growing the right direction but we aren't getting those. That makes me nervous and if still nothing in about another month, I will be officially worried that it's not going good.

Nice summary. I'd also add that even if the nerve reaches the intended muscle, there's still the matter of what percentage of the nerve firing at capacity as it would normally. In other words, there is a chance of the nerve firing but at a lesser capacity = reduced function of the foot.

 

[Richmond Cowboy]

This is a nice journal article regarding peroneal nerve injury associated with sports-related knee injury.

http://thejns.org/doi/pdf/10.3171/2011.9.FOCUS11187

In this series of cases they looked at nerves that required grafting for repair. Bottom line, the shorter the graft, the better the odds of return of function. The greatest recovery was seen in cases where the graft was <6cm (70% of patients recovered function).

In the case of Jaylon, Dr. Cooper stated that there was no stretching or visible damage to the nerve.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...aylon-smith-knee-nerve-injury-draft/83416394/

My assumption would be that a graft was not necessary due to minimal visible damage.

Hopefully all of this bodes well for Jaylon and his nerve function recovers.

 

[davey999]

Clear now with all our issues at LB, that Jack should have been the pick.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

This is a nice journal article regarding peroneal nerve injury associated with sports-related knee injury.

http://thejns.org/doi/pdf/10.3171/2011.9.FOCUS11187

In this series of cases they looked at nerves that required grafting for repair. Bottom line, the shorter the graft, the better the odds of return of function. The greatest recovery was seen in cases where the graft was <6cm (70% of patients recovered function).

In the case of Jaylon, Dr. Cooper stated that there was no stretching or visible damage to the nerve.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...aylon-smith-knee-nerve-injury-draft/83416394/

My assumption would be that a graft was not necessary due to minimal visible damage.

Hopefully all of this bodes well for Jaylon and his nerve function recovers.

I'm pretty sure the affected nerve related to Jaylon's injury was 6 inches long or apx. 15 cm.

 

[Jeffkills]

How did we save his life?

The way he felt when we drafted him was patently obvious.

C'mon, man...

Dane Brugler had him falling out of the 6th RD...

 

[Kaiser]

Broaddus said he talked to his insiders that work for the Patriots and they said it wasn't true.

If people wanna then say "well, how do we know they're telling the truth to Broaduss..." then we may as well say we going to trade Romo for Brady because there's no way to confirm or disprove anything.

But the point is we don't really know and that even if it wasn't the Patriots, there could easily have been other teams that would have been targeting Smith in the second but it didn't make it in the press.

Saying there are conflicting news reports is different than saying the report was disproven. The Patriots have every reason to deny their intent if it was there, if Smith blows up their fans would scream about them not making the move for years. Smith might have been the best player in this draft if healthy, its much more likely than not that one of the teams in the draft was targeting him in the 2nd round.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Well hope he will be ready next year !!!!

Or the next!

 

[dallasdave]

Or the next!

 

[Haimerej]

No offense, but I don't think you're understanding what the study you posted is saying:

"Nerve repair associated with tibialis tendon transfer dramatically improved the postoperative outcome: at 2 year follow-up, neural regeneration was demonstrated in 90% of the patients."

That's speaking to a specific surgical method of attaching a tendon to help treat "drop foot." Jaylon Smith hasn't had that procedure so the results mentioned in the journal article are unrelated to Smith's recovery treatment.

Do we know what method was used in his surgery? I've tried to find the details but have been unsuccessful.

I assumed the reference to severe knee dislocations as opposed to crush or tearing injuries meant that's how these repairs are done.

 

[Idgit]

I'm already on record as saying the Smith pick was a dumb and unnecessary risk.

At the same time, whatever we do or don't hear about his progress, it's a mistake to assume we're getting full or accurate information. Way too many times incredibly relevant data re: rehab and injuries never becomes publicly available, and we react to the information we do or do not get assuming it's accurate when it just isn't. Short of a public update, we're just going to have to wait and see what happens with this guy. And hope we didn't flush the 34 pick.