RS12
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 32,523
- Reaction score
- 29,868
The team that drafts Jaylon Smith is likely going to have to wait for a return on its investment.
The Notre Dame linebacker, who some believed was a top-five prospect prior to tearing up his knee in January, appears headed for a medical redshirt season in the NFL. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport says that there was very little difference between the condition of Smith's knee at the NFL scouting combine in February to how it looked in an examination on Friday back in Indianapolis for the NFL medical rechecks.
It's likely, then, that 2016 could be spent rehabbing for Smith and not on an NFL field. That's bad news for Smith, who boasted to Shutdown Corner on March 31 that he was leg-pressing 600 pounds and felt great in his rehab.
This almost certainly pushes Smith out of the first round of the draft starting April 28, although history reminds us that Willis McGahee was still the 22nd pick in the draft in 2003 NFL draft despite a devastating knee injury, and he did not play until the following season of 2004 but still had an occasionally brilliant career.
On the other end of the spectrum is Marcus Lattimore. He fell to Round 4 to the San Francisco 49ersand never was able to get back on the field after multiple torn ACLs.
Smith suffered a torn ACL and LCL and might have suffered some nerve damage in the injury that happened in Notre Dame's Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State. It is very possible and perhaps likely that Smith is drafted at some point the next day in either Rounds 2 or 3. Perhaps a team that is loaded with picks in that range could opt to take a flier on Smith as a long-term investment.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...event-him-from-playing-in-2016-174910152.html
The Notre Dame linebacker, who some believed was a top-five prospect prior to tearing up his knee in January, appears headed for a medical redshirt season in the NFL. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport says that there was very little difference between the condition of Smith's knee at the NFL scouting combine in February to how it looked in an examination on Friday back in Indianapolis for the NFL medical rechecks.
It's likely, then, that 2016 could be spent rehabbing for Smith and not on an NFL field. That's bad news for Smith, who boasted to Shutdown Corner on March 31 that he was leg-pressing 600 pounds and felt great in his rehab.
This almost certainly pushes Smith out of the first round of the draft starting April 28, although history reminds us that Willis McGahee was still the 22nd pick in the draft in 2003 NFL draft despite a devastating knee injury, and he did not play until the following season of 2004 but still had an occasionally brilliant career.
On the other end of the spectrum is Marcus Lattimore. He fell to Round 4 to the San Francisco 49ersand never was able to get back on the field after multiple torn ACLs.
Smith suffered a torn ACL and LCL and might have suffered some nerve damage in the injury that happened in Notre Dame's Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State. It is very possible and perhaps likely that Smith is drafted at some point the next day in either Rounds 2 or 3. Perhaps a team that is loaded with picks in that range could opt to take a flier on Smith as a long-term investment.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...event-him-from-playing-in-2016-174910152.html
