Olawale's arrow doesn't need to go up. He's a complete fullback now.
Smith is a solid player. He's a good run blocker, not bad as a run blocker, might be good for a dive play or two and shows good hands out of the backfield as a short-range outlet. He's also a core special teammer.
Olawale is a pretty good run blocker, good pass blocker, can make plays as a runner and as a receiver and is a core special-teammer.
I don't think we have to like one or the other of these players. Both have their value. I just believe from what Olawale showed while he was here and even more after he left here, he offers more as a runner and receiver than Smith. The rest pretty much equals out.
The only thing we don't know for certain is why Gruden wanted to replace him with Smith. There's a post in this thread about Gruden wanting a better run blocker, which Smith is, but not to the point where that would seem to be a deal maker. My thoughts on it are that Bissacia's familiarity with Smith as a core special-teammer was the primary selling point. Olawale has been a core special-teammer with the Raiders, but Bissacia doesn't know him like he knows Smith. It's also possible that Gruden believes Smith will only get better, which as you said, would be his arrow pointing up.
