Twitter: Jaylon needs to be cut

[CalPolyTechnique]

A guy like Sean Lee must lose his mind. A guy who would spend hours preparing for the next opponent looking for the slightest edge. Then watches as Jaylon spends the week doing arm curls and having business meeting with Jerry. One balls out on Sunday. The other not so much. Somehow though the other guy gets a massive contract and is guaranteed to play 100% of the snaps. Is even wearing the C on Sunday. And we wonder why players on this team only play for themselves.

I can't honestly speak to how Jaylon is in the film room. Some coach recently lauded Jaylon for his intelligence in breaking down the tape in some TV segment for ESPN or NFLN.

What can be said is that it's not translating on the field....at all.

To your point though, it must be maddening to be one of the other defensive players and hear Jaylon talking about effort and then seeing him loafing on the field. That kind of stuff does not go unnoticed.

 

[CarolinaFathead]

I was a huge fan of Jaylon while he was at Notre Dame.

His 2017 season was like a red-shirt to me. He was playing with a brace and I was just glad to see him on the field.

2018 was like the honeymoon phase; the brace was off and any positives you saw from him was gravy. That said, I have posts from 2018 that were critical of some of his play (primarily with open field tackling). Despite that, I would always rationalize it at the time as "field rust" and him needing to get reacclimated to the game and the speed of NFL football.

In 2019, he did not progress as a player. He was now ~3 years post injury. The red flags I saw in 2018 were even more glaring and were not limited to just the physical aspects of the game. The Athletic had a long write up on him talking to his childhood friend and current manager, former coaches, et cetera. In the article it even noted that Jaylon acknowledged his 2019 season was not up to par.

2020, has been an absolute train wreck. His deficiencies cannot be attributed to scheme. There's no scheme that can completely protect a LB from being untouched; that can prevent an LB from having to take on a pulling OG; from having to stack-and-shed and maintain gap integrity; from having to read-and-react/react-and-read, et cetera.

Again, the scheme may be horrible, but Jaylon is severely underperforming as an individual player.

Were you a fan of the pick? I wasn’t and that’s no knock on Jaylon. Experts were saying he was a top 10 talent at the time if healthy. However, I didn’t like spending a second round pick on a gamble that wouldn’t pay dividends for a couple years even if it panned out. I don’t think a pick epitomizes Jerry Jones’ as a GM more than the Jaylon pick.


However, I’ll admit that 2018 had me thinking the gamble paid off and I was wrong regarding the draft pick.

 

[Kalyan]

Jaylon is JJ famous top 5 pick, he selected in 2nd round bargain, HOF player that only JJ saw his potential and want to prove how good a GM he is. Jaylon is not going anywhere

 

[CarolinaFathead]

Honestly, I can't remember the 2018 defense. But here is what I will tell you. Sean Lee was/is the real deal...injuries have hurt him. #55 the wolf hunter....had a tremendous rookie year...I think injuries have derailed him. In spite of not creating turnovers, Byron Jones was/is a good to very good CB. DeMarcus Lawrence, prior to the injuries....was a very good player. Outside of those guys...the rest of them is just meh. And that especially is my feelings about #54. Why he was extended has very little to do with football. It was political(sending a message to Zeke who was holding out), it was due to an inspirational storyline.....and there was probably a lot of hopeful, wishful thinking about his upside.

The life blood of this team was the OL. It allowed us to run the football, control the clock and keep the defense off the field. Without that....our defense is on the field a lot....and we are seeing more of them than this organization EVER wanted us to see. And there is no end in sight to how low this will go. My thoughts about the talent on this defense leads me to believe that this defense will set records of futility by the end of the year. This will not get better. And a lot of these guys are going to get exposed.

Ive posted, and I’ve seen other post this this as well, that it is not hyperbole to include this defense in the conversation about “Worst Defense Ever”.

The reasons why that is are what is most interesting to me. Why are we so bad? The old adage that controlling the LOS means you will likely win the game are what I keep going back to as a fan which is why I tend to focus on the d-line play. Again, I’m not making a statement regarding Jaylon one way or the other. I just want to know what is the most efficient decisions we can make as far as personnel to improve this defense as quick as possible.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Were you a fan of the pick? I wasn’t and that’s no knock on Jaylon. Experts were saying he was a top 10 talent at the time if healthy. However, I didn’t like spending a second round pick on a gamble that wouldn’t pay dividends for a couple years even if it panned out. I don’t think a pick epitomizes Jerry Jones’ as a GM more than the Jaylon pick.


However, I’ll admit that 2018 had me thinking the gamble paid off and I was wrong regarding the draft pick.

No, I wasn't.

Despite the fact I liked him at Notre Dame he was fresh off a serious injury with a prognosis that was unclear. To spend a high 2nd Round pick (34th overall) on a player you knew you'd get nothing out of his rookie season and could not guarantee his total recovery from nerve damage was way too risky.

I think you're on to something regarding the pick epitomizing Jerry. He took a gamble and it seemingly paid off in spades in 2018. Heading into the 2019 season Jerry shot his wad prematurely and signs Jaylon to an extension. The rest is history.

I think this also speaks to why there are some last remaining folks that don't want to acknowledge the obvious poor play on the field. They are emotionally invested in the story of Jaylon rather than looking at him as any other football player at this point. I'd wager good money if Jaylon was named Joe Blow, a rookie free agent from Waxahachie State, these same people would be calling for Joe Blow's head.

 

[JayFord]

So when I watched the play at first I said wow thats the worst football play I've seen on any level he ran away from a run up the gut when there was no play action

Then I saw it a couple more times

While Jaylon wasn't a solution its unfair to criticize him alone there was a man sweeping across the formation and he went to cover him because he got fooled into think it could've been play action

The defensive line though...thats where the big focus should be they had absolutely 0 gap integrity it was horrible to watch and if it were me that would get you benched a play like that shouldn't go more than 1 yard

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

Were you a fan of the pick? I wasn’t and that’s no knock on Jaylon. Experts were saying he was a top 10 talent at the time if healthy. However, I didn’t like spending a second round pick on a gamble that wouldn’t pay dividends for a couple years even if it panned out. I don’t think a pick epitomizes Jerry Jones’ as a GM more than the Jaylon pick.


However, I’ll admit that 2018 had me thinking the gamble paid off and I was wrong regarding the draft pick.

Year after year...right around draft time....we always hear experts and pundits talk about the need for 2nd round picks to come in and contribute immediately.. ESPECIALLY for teams that did not qualify for the playoffs the year before!

Dallas must have set a record for 2nd round picks that the Cowboys are comfortable gambling on or do not expect them to contribute immediately. Why? Because the Cowboys brass are playing with house money for infinity. This is real life fantasy football. From Sean Lee (injured), Randy Gregory (off most peoples draft boards), Jaylon Smith (no one knew if he would walk straight again) Connor Williams (not big or strong enough to contribute) Trystan Hill (red flags about effort)...the list goes on and on. The Cowboys swing for a homer...because if they hit an in field dribbler....or strike out....there are no REAL repercussions if they miss. The GM reports to an owner that will never fire him. And the owner makes billions regardless if you win or lose. Who would NOT sign up to run a business with this sort of setup. Jerry does everything humanly possible to LOSE hundreds of millions...but instead...rakes in billions. You simply cannot make this stuff up!!!!!

 

[blueblood70]

all of you need Midol, you cant run teams with emotional responses.. he needs to get better maybe lose some playing time gets some young guys snaps that will help next season but we have salary Cap, and hes not been great but is tops 5 in tackles etc and that DL, Safetys, losing LVE and Lee early others not stepping up i mean hard to call out blame on 1 player for Team failures..i know i saw ugly plays bad angles and wrong first steps by Smith more this year then in the past but he got paid hes under contract in new defense with little around him, hard to really say cut guy..

thank god fans arent GMs, they aren't things run like Madden and FF.. sorry once guy is signed to deals like that, cutting him would be far worse then keeping him.

you cant just fire, cut, and trade everyone..this board gas gone insane since game 1 ..

 

[MyFairLady]

To your point though, it must be maddening to be one of the other defensive players and hear Jaylon talking about effort and then seeing him loafing on the field. That kind of stuff does not go unnoticed.

Fans get super frustrated mainly because fans are helpless. We see things but there is nothing we can do about it and no one in a position to do something about it seems to care. Now picture a player that actual does care. Unlike a simple fan the player is working hard to do everything they can to help the team. Imagine how frustrating it must be for them. It would be 100x worse. I just can't imagine how some of these players are feeling and IMHO it really shows on Sundays.

 

[jsb357]

Jaylon is not going anywhere

not with these cap numbers

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/jaylon-smith-18982/

and being one of JJ's faves

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

Ive posted, and I’ve seen other post this this as well, that it is not hyperbole to include this defense in the conversation about “Worst Defense Ever”.

The reasons why that is are what is most interesting to me. Why are we so bad? The old adage that controlling the LOS means you will likely win the game are what I keep going back to as a fan which is why I tend to focus on the d-line play. Again, I’m not making a statement regarding Jaylon one way or the other. I just want to know what is the most efficient decisions we can make as far as personnel to improve this defense as quick as possible.

Does not work that way....when you commit big money to guys that can't play....because of the salary cap rules...you have to live with those bad decisions. Dallas has a couple of years before they can get out from under the players on defense they signed to big money. You can draft and play some rookies...raid other teams practice squads. Essentially try to find as many cheap guys as possible and hope you find a diamond in the rough. But all the other 31 teams are looking for talent as well....so we are in a bad way right now.

The offense is full of talent...just needs to get healthy.

 

[Qcard]

Good play call?

Zone Left?

I hope no one else figures out this gem.

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe Jaylon saw the Hback flash across the QBs hand-off but that is still 2nd or 3rd player out the back field, so it's either Nickel or safety responsibility.

I think Jaylon guessed/chose H Back because it's the easier tackle. I don't think Jaylon is confident his knee can take on head-up collisions. He prefers to chase and wrap

 

[dfense]

As usual let’s dump on Jaylon. The defensive tackles get pushed back. LVE gets washed and no safety support. You wonder why Jaylon looks clueless, he covers for the bad safety play and the linebacker beside him.

You could be a coach for the Cowboys. lol

LVE at least took a chance at a GAP. Woods went after the motion guy to cover him in the flat. Jaylon has no clue what is going on./ He's like a cat jumping at the first motion that captures his attention.

 

[JonesBoys]

How do the coaches watch this tape every week and say yea Jaylon’s our guy? You mean to tell me that’s the best they can do right now so they keep trotting him on the field? Or is this Jerry’s pet project to prove everyone he was right gambling on Jaylon when the rest of the NFL knew better? And we wonder why this organization has been a bottom feeder for 25 years and counting? Would a real football GM and coaching staff have this guy on the field?

 

[AmericanCowboy]

A LB with zero instincts cannot play on this level. It doesn't matter how athletic you are, one false step and the back runs right by you. You would think he would at least be good in pass coverage, but he is a liability there as well. What asset does he bring to this defense? We heard that there was in fighting last season with the coaches regarding his play, perhaps it's more about how poor of a player Jaylon truly is. Time to cut the cord, bad signing, just move on.

he brings a good draft day story. That’s it.

 

[stilltheguru]

Dont pay big money after 1 good year. Moral of the story. Shouldve kept him hungry

 

[RoboQB]

You’ve watched every snap?

You haven't?

 

[the_h0wey]

He leads the league in tackles *ducks*

 

[CarolinaFathead]

You haven't?

I’ve missed a few but have watched every game.

More specifically, no I haven’t watched every snap with the intent of analyzing Jaylon. From a broadcast perspective on television I don’t even think this is possible because you don’t have a wide enough of an angle to see what is going on for every snap of every play during the game. Football isn’t basketball where as a fan watching a game you can literally breakdown the specific successes and mistakes of individual players on every possession. The camera angle doesn’t allow that.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

How do the coaches watch this tape every week and say yea Jaylon’s our guy? You mean to tell me that’s the best they can do right now so they keep trotting him on the field? Or is this Jerry’s pet project to prove everyone he was right gambling on Jaylon when the rest of the NFL knew better? And we wonder why this organization has been a bottom feeder for 25 years and counting? Would a real football GM and coaching staff have this guy on the field?

As much as we’d like to think it’s a meritocracy, it isn’t. They paid Jaylon big-time dollars to play. They’re going to give him every last opportunity to flat-out fail before they bench him and trot out Thomas, Gifford, or Bennard to replace him.

This is a similar case to Mo Claiborne while he was here. Mo for the vast majority of his time here was a barely passable NFL-starting caliber CB, but he was afforded the benefit of being the #6 overall pick. The Cowboys were invested trying to see him succeed.