Video: I'm not getting the Jaylon Smith hype

[CyberB0b]

I've heard people hyping him up as the next Ray Lewis or Patrick Willis, but I just don't see it. I've also seen people call him a heat seeking missile. Again, I don't see it. You'll notice a theme here. He hates to get blocked and dances around blockers more than I like, which takes him out of plays. There isn't a lot that jumps off the screen here to me. When you watch Myles Jack, he jumps off the screen.



:43 you can see what I am talking about here. Gets demolished and blown out of the play.
1:00 tries to dance away from a block, loses balance, and lets the RB break off a big run.
1:50 destroyed on a block
2:05 lost in the trash
2:50 great open field hit on the QB
4:55 I wish I saw more of this. Engages, sheds, and makes the play
5:10 dances around a block and takes himself out of the play
5:20 blocked 1:1
5:36 another good example of what I want to see more of



:23 looks like he has contain and just holds it.
:36 blocked out of the play and loses position
:48 bad angle and poor attempt at an arm tackle
1:35 great instincts and makes the play
2:45 tries to dance around instead of sticking his nose in there.
2:49 again, dances himself out of the play
2:56 blocked out of the play
5:09 obliterated off the edge

I'll just quit here with the specific plays. I was really surprised how much he was used in coverage. I think comparing him to Ray Lewis or Patrick Willis aren't really good. He is an extremely versatile player who shows flashes of being physical, but he really seems like finesse type of linebacker. He can cover, can play inside or outside. He can spy the QB. I think his pass rushing skills are over hyped. Most of his pressure seems to come from blown blocks where he isn't even touched.

Another thing I noticed is that he doesn't play downhill as much as I expected. He has really good instincts, but doesn't seem to trust them. He seems to sit back and wait for the play to come to him. Is this scheme?

Are these just bad games or am I missing something?

 

[Spectre]

Patrick Willis. lol
Patrick Willis is perhaps the best LBer the NFL has seen in the past decade. This guy is no Patrick Willis. His build isn't even anything like Willis'.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

No College player makes all the plays. What I saw was someone who played his position in relation to the Defense. He was scheme sound, where he was supposed to be and that is huge. You can see the talent and ability to react and make a play. Of course, he played himself out of position a few times, which is common when you are the best athlete on the field. He needs some work, no doubt but they all do. But after watching these videos of actual game footage, it is easy to see why he was one of the top prospects in the draft. If not for his injury, he would have went top 5 more than likely. Kid can play. My biggest concern was that he seemed to get a little lazy in his technique a few times, not sure if that was fatigue, or just taking a play off now and then but that can't happen on this level.

 

[Sydla]

First all, I can pull up Jack game tape and show you all the mistakes he's made as well.

This seems like the classic fan case of liking one guy more and then nitpicking footage. It's not like Smith or any great LB prospect for that matter plays mistake free football and gets off every block and makes every play. LOL.

 

[Vanilla2]

So just got to be the first to be right just in case the player doesn't work out

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Patrick Willis. lol
Patrick Willis is perhaps the best LBer the NFL has seen in the past decade. This guy is no Patrick Willis. His build isn't even anything like Willis'.

Navarro Bowman ended up being better than Willis.





YR

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

These seem to just be highlights from two games though. His sample size is far bigger than that. You can take two games of Jack and the footage will look at the same. I like Smith's skillset better than Jack's. He's fast, great coverage skills, good against the run and can rush the passer.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Navarro Bowman ended up being better than Willis.





YR

Ehhh.....at the end of Willis career yeah but I can't say that Bowman has had a better career than Bowman at this point.

 

[CyberB0b]

First all, I can pull up Jack game tape and show you all the mistakes he's made as well.

This seems like the classic fan case of liking one guy more and then nitpicking footage. It's not like Smith or any great LB prospect for that matter plays mistake free football and gets off every block and makes every play. LOL.

Sure, they are going to make mistakes. You can see a drastic difference in playing styles as soon as you turn on Myles Jack. He plays down hill and is all over the field. You see brute physicality with Jack.

 

[revospeed]

I've heard people hyping him up as the next Ray Lewis or Patrick Willis, but I just don't see it. I've also seen people call him a heat seeking missile. Again, I don't see it. You'll notice a theme here. He hates to get blocked and dances around blockers more than I like, which takes him out of plays. There isn't a lot that jumps off the screen here to me. When you watch Myles Jack, he jumps off the screen.



:43 you can see what I am talking about here. Gets demolished and blown out of the play.
1:00 tries to dance away from a block, loses balance, and lets the RB break off a big run.
1:50 destroyed on a block
2:05 lost in the trash
2:50 great open field hit on the QB
4:55 I wish I saw more of this. Engages, sheds, and makes the play
5:10 dances around a block and takes himself out of the play
5:20 blocked 1:1
5:36 another good example of what I want to see more of



:23 looks like he has contain and just holds it.
:36 blocked out of the play and loses position
:48 bad angle and poor attempt at an arm tackle
1:35 great instincts and makes the play
2:45 tries to dance around instead of sticking his nose in there.
2:49 again, dances himself out of the play
2:56 blocked out of the play
5:09 obliterated off the edge

I'll just quit here with the specific plays. I was really surprised how much he was used in coverage. I think comparing him to Ray Lewis or Patrick Willis aren't really good. He is an extremely versatile player who shows flashes of being physical, but he really seems like finesse type of linebacker. He can cover, can play inside or outside. He can spy the QB. I think his pass rushing skills are over hyped. Most of his pressure seems to come from blown blocks where he isn't even touched.

Another thing I noticed is that he doesn't play downhill as much as I expected. He has really good instincts, but doesn't seem to trust them. He seems to sit back and wait for the play to come to him. Is this scheme?

Are these just bad games or am I missing something?

Seems like you might be on to something. Seems more finesse in those clips than I'd like. But we've had good success with finesse linebackers wearing #54 before.

I would have rather had Jack, or one of the fatties from Alabama or Alexander from Clemson over Smith, but hey, I'm still going to root for the guy.

 

[TheCount]

I haven't watched a ton of him, but he looks physical to me.

He's definitely more of a new age LB though, not a thumper but a guy that you can leave on the field for all three downs.

What I'll be curious to see is if he's an OLB or ILB. I'm guessing they want him at ILB, but when your front 4 are "rush men", the LB is going to have to do some dirty work.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Ehhh.....at the end of Willis career yeah but I can't say that Bowman has had a better career than Bowman at this point.

He was clearly the better player from 2011 - 2013 than Willis was. Willis was very stiff in the hips and didn't cover all that great. The Niners basically used Bowman to cover up Willis' weaknesses, not the other way around.

And Luke Kuechly is better than both of them.





YR

 

[chicago JK]

Who knows if he would have been elite NFL player even if he wasn't injured. There are plenty of stud defenders who go high in the draft and never pan out in the NFL.

With that being said, if you watched Notre Dame the past three seasons, Smith stuck out not only in his ability but in his production in college. It doesn't take a experienced scout to quickly notice Smith when watching a game.

 

[maxdallasfan]

Can't everyone just be happy?

He's a Cowboy now, so I like him.

If he stinks it up over the next few years, then I won't like him anymore. Simple.

 

[CyberB0b]

No College player makes all the plays. What I saw was someone who played his position in relation to the Defense. He was scheme sound, where he was supposed to be and that is huge. You can see the talent and ability to react and make a play. Of course, he played himself out of position a few times, which is common when you are the best athlete on the field. He needs some work, no doubt but they all do. But after watching these videos of actual game footage, it is easy to see why he was one of the top prospects in the draft. If not for his injury, he would have went top 5 more than likely. Kid can play. My biggest concern was that he seemed to get a little lazy in his technique a few times, not sure if that was fatigue, or just taking a play off now and then but that can't happen on this level.

Yeah, but look at the clip I posted of Myles Jack. 1:44. He drives a RT off balance and gets in the mix. You will never see Myles Jack getting pushed back 5+ yards by a lineman like Smith does. As soon as the ball is snapped, Myles Jack is running down hill. He doesn't wait for anything. I would rather a guy overrun a play by trusting his instincts and getting his nose dirty than to sit back and wait for a play to develop in front of him. Again, this might be a scheme issue. It just seems like Jack is way more physical and more downhill.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I agree. I think he stays blocked too often. I don't have nearly as high of an opinion, as do others. If you can keep him clean and just let him run to the ball, he could be pretty good but I don't love the way he gets off blocks much.

 

[Virginia-Dave]

This morning I was listening to former Navy QB(now BAL WR), and Heisman candidate Keenan Reynolds on a local radio show. They asked him "Who is the best defensive player you've ever faced?". His answer? Jaylon Smith. He said that when they played ND, they game-planned to stay away from Jaylon Smith. Said Smith was very smart, scary fast, and just a beast on the defensive side of the ball that had to be accounted for at all times.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Smith and Jack are fairly similar players. I think Smith is more physical in being able to take on blockers and would do fine as a 4-3 MIKE if the scheme is correct. In this current scheme, we want Ro. McClain to take on a lot of blockers so they stay off Lee and let Lee flow to the ball. But in most 4-3 scheme, they tendency is to have the D-Line to help keep the blockers off the MIKE and the WILL. The MIKE will still get some blockers on him, but it's not the workload of say a 3-4 ILB. I think Smith could handle that better than Jack could.

Both fly to the ball and can play north-south and east-west. There are claims that you could move Jack to safety and he could be a Pro Bowler. I think that's true because his cover skills are so ridiculous. Some made claims about Smith, I find that to be less true. But again, at the MIKE I would prefer Smith over Jack. I also think Smith is a much better blitzer.

In the end, it's tough to say. I think both, if healthy, are phenomenal. I just don't trust our medical staff even if they did perform the surgery. They've guessed wrong, made poor diagnosis so many times in the past, I just wouldn't trust that now they'll get it right.






YR

 

[phildadon86]

Yeah, but look at the clip I posted of Myles Jack. 1:44. He drives a RT off balance and gets in the mix. You will never see Myles Jack getting pushed back 5+ yards by a lineman like Smith does. As soon as the ball is snapped, Myles Jack is running down hill. He doesn't wait for anything. I would rather a guy overrun a play by trusting his instincts and getting his nose dirty than to sit back and wait for a play to develop in front of him. Again, this might be a scheme issue. It just seems like Jack is way more physical and more downhill.

Just really seems to fit your agenda. Im sorry, but when every analyst, and every football mind out there is saying this guy would have been a first overall pick if healthy or at a minimum a top 5 player, your opinion seems quite jaded. But you picked some videos and criticize his tape..I can pull up videos of almost every NFL player and you will see mistakes...Ill take their word for it. Not to mention that he won one of the most prestigious awards in College ball, and beat out your guy Jack to do so. I guess they were wrong too?

 

[JBell]

I watched the specific plays you pointed out, and talk about nitpicking.

No LB is going to be able to take on lineman 60+ pounds heavier than them and disengage every play. You did mention that he plays best when he's not touched, and I agree 100%. That's why many people think his best fit is at the WILL.

I don't know how you can call his pass rushing skills overhyped though when Notre Dame rarely ever utilized him as a pure edge rusher.