Could Jaylon Provide Elite Pass Rush?

T-RO

T-RO

Well-Known Member
Messages
15,323
Reaction score
17,208
Maybe this has been discussed before, I don't recall.

Von Miller is the most productive, most feared pass rusher in the NFL and he isn't at all the size of a typical lineman. Von is 6'3, 249 pounds. 4.5 speed.

What Miller wins with is electric speed, quickness and nice arm length. He can beat his guy on the edge...or stress a tackle so badly to the edge, that he can swim underneath for a quick win.

Doesn't Jaylon provide the same physical profile? 6'3, 240.

Mock drafting sites evaluate him as a good pass rusher and also a guy who can cover virtually anyone man-to-man (RB, TE even WR)

I wonder if the Cowboys on 3rd down might use a formation with 3 down lineman, but where they rush a 4th guy from anywhere on the field...a corner, safety, Lee, Hitch or Jaylon.

It's a passing league and very much a quick-pass league with lots of short passes. Smith seems like he could help either with quick-strike pass rush and also as a destroyer of short passes...a bit like Lee.
 
TheFinisher said:
He should be a great blitzer, but I'm not sure he's the pure edge rusher that Miller is. Iirc he was a prolific pass rusher for a&m
Click to expand...

Yeah I was watching Miller on YouTube and he was faster to the quarterback than I've ever seen. One step and he's already at fully speed (not literally but it sure seems like it).

Jaylon was playing a bit out of position IMO at Notre Dame...being at MLB. I'm eager to see him hit the edge.
 
T-RO said:
Maybe this has been discussed before, I don't recall.

Von Miller is the most productive, most feared pass rusher in the NFL and he isn't at all the size of a typical lineman. Von is 6'3, 249 pounds. 4.5 speed.

What Miller wins with is electric speed, quickness and nice arm length. He can beat his guy on the edge...or stress a tackle so badly to the edge, that he can swim underneath for a quick win.

Doesn't Jaylon provide the same physical profile? 6'3, 240.

Mock drafting sites evaluate him as a good pass rusher and also a guy who can cover virtually anyone man-to-man (RB, TE even WR)

I wonder if the Cowboys on 3rd down might use a formation with 3 down lineman, but where they rush a 4th guy from anywhere on the field...a corner, safety, Lee, Hitch or Jaylon.

It's a passing league and very much a quick-pass league with lots of short passes. Smith seems like he could help either with quick-strike pass rush and also as a destroyer of short passes...a bit like Lee.
Click to expand...

He looked good rushing the passer in a few videos.
But while we are hopeful that he will be a similar to before the injury, we cannot go through the offseason assuming that is the case.

This is no excuse for not bringing in top tier FA for the DL - multiple top tier FAs.
 
waldoputty said:
He looked good rushing the passer in a few videos.
But while we are hopeful that he will be a similar to before the injury, we cannot go through the offseason assuming that is the case.

This is no excuse for not bringing in top tier FA for the DL - multiple top tier FAs.
Click to expand...

Agreed that we need to bolster pass rush via draft or FA no matter what. But the Cowboys brass are much closer to the situation than we are...and seem confident that Jaylon is going to be OK physically.
 
T-RO said:
Agreed that we need to bolster pass rush via draft or FA no matter what. But the Cowboys brass are much closer to the situation than we are...and seem confident that Jaylon is going to be OK physically.
Click to expand...

I like Jaylon and I spent lots of time montioring his recovery.
BUT it would be insane to count on Jaylon being the player he was until there are live bullets or even a few games.
We simply cannot count on the draft either since 1st year DEs simply dont make that type of impact.
This is especially true if you are drafting at 28.
We are talking about 1 year in perhaps a 3-4 year window that we do not want to waste.
 
Apples and oranges....Miller is a pass rushing OLB in a 3-4.

Smith will be the MLB in a 4-3. He won't be part of the 4-man pass rush.

JSmith is very good in coverage, and when we blitz, he will instantly be our best blitzing LB.

We still need a DE and continued improvement out of Mayowa, DLaw, and Irving....a contribution from Tapper in the rotation would be awesome.

I actually have high hopes for Mayowa. He was on the bench or inactive for a good part of the season, yet led the team in sacks and started playing the run better.
 
Last edited:
Von Miller has always been a pass rusher. He had 33 sacks in college. Smith is a traditional LB prospect
 
I thought Jaylon was closer to 230, or at least he was coming out of school. Not sure he can really be compared to Miller. Still though, we surely can't be worse with him in the lineup when it comes to pass rush.
 
Who's to say Marinelli doesn't move him around in different packages to rush? He'll get his shots, promise ya that!
 
T-RO said:
Maybe this has been discussed before, I don't recall.

Von Miller is the most productive, most feared pass rusher in the NFL and he isn't at all the size of a typical lineman. Von is 6'3, 249 pounds. 4.5 speed.

What Miller wins with is electric speed, quickness and nice arm length. He can beat his guy on the edge...or stress a tackle so badly to the edge, that he can swim underneath for a quick win.

Doesn't Jaylon provide the same physical profile? 6'3, 240.

Mock drafting sites evaluate him as a good pass rusher and also a guy who can cover virtually anyone man-to-man (RB, TE even WR)

I wonder if the Cowboys on 3rd down might use a formation with 3 down lineman, but where they rush a 4th guy from anywhere on the field...a corner, safety, Lee, Hitch or Jaylon.

It's a passing league and very much a quick-pass league with lots of short passes. Smith seems like he could help either with quick-strike pass rush and also as a destroyer of short passes...a bit like Lee.
Click to expand...
Bruce Irvin is a 4-3 LB for the Raiders that had 7 sacks this season. When he was in Seattle he played LB in base and then (sometimes) moved to DE in the Nickel. I think at other times he played as one of the two LBs in the Nickel.

I don't know how the Raiders have been using him, but 7 sacks is a lot for a 4-3 LB.

The downside of using Jaylon Smith as a pass rusher is that he has the potential to be an elite coverage LB but obviously can be in coverage if he is rushing the passer. That TD where the Packers TE beat Sean Lee probably doesn't happen if a healthy Jaylon Smith is in coverage.
 
We have to really focus on improving the pass rush this off-season. Can't just flush Aaron Rodgers out of the pocket you have to get him on the ground. We need defenders that can get to the QB.
 
There's some video of him in spring ball playing on the line.

He could play RDE if he wanted to bulk up a bit. Explosive. He can dip and bend around the tackle as well as any DE. Generates a lot more power than you'd think he'd be able. Has a variety of moves (which is more than you can say about any of our pros). Sets up his rushes and has a counter if the first isn't move is handled. Obviously fantastic closing speed. Has okay arm length to keep OT from getting into his body, but I really don't think the OT would have a chance due to Smith playing so low and fast.

No idea if the Notre Dame OT was any good. Could have been some freshman who was completely overmatched.
 
How about he log out of twitter and actually play a down? Maybe then he would have a chance to be evaluated as a pass rusher.
 
Chuck 54 said:
Apples and oranges....Miller is a pass rushing OLB in a 3-4.

Smith will be the MLB in a 4-3. He won't be part of the 4-man pass rush.

JSmith is very good in coverage, and when we blitz, he will instantly be our best blitzing LB.

We still need a DE and continued improvement out of Mayowa, DLaw, and Irving....a contribution from Tapper in the rotation would be awesome.

I actually have high hopes for Mayowa. He was on the bench or inactive for a good part of the season, yet led the team in sacks and started playing the run better.
Click to expand...

On some level, we may have the right players to play 3-4 if we cannot get a good pass rushing DE and DT.

DL could be a Collins, Thornton and Irving. 3 more rotation players could be easily had for stopping the run.

Then the pass rush focus could be on the LBs, of which Jaylon can be one if he comes back.
If Jaylon can come back, we have Lee, Jaylon and Wilson. Jaylon and Wilson can play OLB. Nzeocha would be interesting if he is healthy also.

Then we could draft and sign pass rush LBs, which may be easier to fill than RDE.
 
Chuck 54 said:
Apples and oranges....Miller is a pass rushing OLB in a 3-4.

Smith will be the MLB in a 4-3. He won't be part of the 4-man pass rush.

JSmith is very good in coverage, and when we blitz, he will instantly be our best blitzing LB.

We still need a DE and continued improvement out of Mayowa, DLaw, and Irving....a contribution from Tapper in the rotation would be awesome.

I actually have high hopes for Mayowa. He was on the bench or inactive for a good part of the season, yet led the team in sacks and started playing the run better.
Click to expand...

Apples and oranges as their roles in different defenses. Yes.

But Marinelli could get quite creative in how they employ Jaylon, and get him rushing as often as 30-40% of the time.
 
waldoputty said:
On some level, we may have the right players to play 3-4 if we cannot get a good pass rushing DE and DT.
Click to expand...

But maybe not the right coach for it. No experience with 3-4 there.

I don't think we'll see a switch to a 3-4, but could see some unique wrinkles in 2017.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Staff online

Members online

... and 86 more.
Total: 4,842 (members: 186, guests: 4,656)
Robots: 1,180

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
474,003
Messages
14,505,691
Members
24,207
Latest member
TomGiantsfan
Back
Top