Tale of the tape: Jaylon Smith "Long Arm"

[Trouty]

That was cool. Jaylon struck me as a guy that felt he has a lot to prove. He was very forthcoming about his reads and such compared to his teammates.

Fuzzy, I have hope for him. His ceiling his sky high. I will be discouraged if we don't see development this season, tho.

With respect, always, my man

What do you think of post 30? Close enough, or too rough?

 

[817Gill]

Leighton Vander Esch, Jaylon Smith and Sean Lee better stay healthy. Our DTs don't really excite and the LBs are going to be doing a lot of clean-up.

If the linebackers are healthy and play 16 games then the team can get away with its bargain bin DT strategy. 1 tech is NOT important in this scheme as the linebackers are asked to do a lot. Like or it hate it that’s what it is and that’s why we haven’t made a premium investment there. If these 3 are healthy they are a top 5 unit next year.

 

[Trouty]

1 tech is NOT important in this scheme as the linebackers are asked to do a lot..

NO NO NO

In a perfect Marinelli scheme, the DTs are EXTRAORDINARILY important. His scheme falls apart when he doesn't have a Booger or Sapp.

We are in a black hole right now at 1T. We don't blitz enough, we need pressure from the middle. That is Rod's philosophy

Just NO, Gil

 

[MRV52]

Mr.V, you know you're my boi, and I will always respect you as a great poster, but he didn't improve as the season progressed, imo.

This is a common narrative here, that has been broken down, dissected, and proven false by people smarter than I will ever dream to be when it comes to football. I could also see it before my eyes.

Your right he was terrible but he did play better at the end of the year. I know his playing time was limited then, but he did make some very good plays for us. I felt like he was playing kind of scared or apprehensive most of the year and that's understandable. With the brace coming off and an off season of rehabbing he should be a better player this year.

 

[CyberB0b]

Gotta give him more time, brother.

The same people that **** on RGregory's production, I say the same, he needs another season.

Still, the false narrative of his last (rookie) season needs to be pointed out. He didn't progress as the season worn on. Still, I have hope. But it will most likely be at the SAM unless he comes out of nowhere in TC/preseason

We need a SAM, and if can manage to play well at that position, that will only help. He isn't a natural MLB, and Sean Lee is the better WLB.

Your right he was terrible but he did play better at the end of the year. I know his playing time was limited then, but he did make some very good plays for us. I felt like he was playing kind of scared or apprehensive most of the year and that's understandable. With the brace coming off and an off season of rehabbing he should be a better player this year.

In the last 4 games, he only had 7 solo tackles and 3 assists. He was a ghost.

 

[Maxmadden]

I think if I was studying to fly a plane, I'd understand all the controls and how to get it up off the ground. I'd have something to show for it.

Jaylon looked completely lost and wasn't good at diagnosing plays. You know who did come into the league and diagnose plays well? Sean Lee.

I like high football IQ linebackers over athletic ones.

It's really not fair to compare him to Sean Lee or anybody else for that matter. I want 3 Sean Lee's too, that way one should always be healthy and on the field.

He played hurt last year and he compensated the best he could. He was asked to play about 60% more snaps than he needed to. He is not going to set the league on fire this year like some fans want to believe.

He can become, a really solid LB with an arrow pointing up.

 

[Trouty]

Your right he was terrible but he did play better at the end of the year. I know his playing time was limited then, but he did make some very good plays for us. I felt like he was playing kind of scared or apprehensive most of the year and that's understandable. With the brace coming off and an off season of rehabbing he should be a better player this year.

I agree, V, he should be better this year. Hoping he has his coming out party this year, brother. You now, next to maybe Prescott, no one is training harder this offseason than Jaylon is

 

[817Gill]

NO NO NO

In a perfect Marinelli scheme, the DTs are EXTRAORDINARILY important. His scheme falls apart when he doesn't have a Booger or Sapp.

We are in a black hole right now at 1T. We don't blitz enough, we need pressure from the middle. That is Rod's philosophy

Just NO, Gil

So Marinelli is purposely running his own scheme incorrectly? And when the Front Office repeatedly lets it be known that they do not value a 1-tech enough to spend premium resources, are they lying?

I do think the team will select a tackle next year because the team has a great chance of only having 1 or 2 needs. My guess is tackle and wr/te depending on how the season goes. Those 2 positions could even prove to be stable and effective and that would make DT the only need. In a 2019 draft full of stud DT’s, BPA will drop one of those guys in the teams lap. A draft with only 1 need would give McClay and Jones all the ammo needed to top the team off talent wise. I think 2019 is the SB year.
*Also assuming ET is a Cowboy

 

[Trouty]

So Marinelli is purposely running his own scheme incorrectly? And when the Front Office repeatedly lets it be known that they do not value a 1-tech enough to spend premium resources, are they lying?

No, our inept front office isn't giving him the personnel he needs to replicate that Tampa 2 that won him his Chip

Or his methods are outdated.

I'm not saying either. We just don't know.

Rod hasn't had competent DT's on the same squad in the same season here yet. We get Irving/MCollins, but lose McClain. Then we switch MCollins from a position he should be posted at. Still halving a gaping hole at 1T, and now lessening our strength at the 3. Rod has had little to work with at the 1T/3T tandem

Still, as per your OP, DT's are heavily important in a Marinelli-coached defense.

 

[817Gill]

No, our inept front office isn't giving him the personnel he needs to replicate that Tampa 2 that won him his Chip

That’s a fringe opinion with little fact to back it up. In fact in terms of talent acquisition since 2013, the team has been a top 10 front office. If Rod wants a stud 1-tech, he has the voice to get it. He also says he’s looking for 1techs with 3tech abilities, this cancels out many of the top NFL 1techs. There’s a lot more saying that he devalues it than there is saying he really wants one and no one will give it to him

 

[Trouty]

That’s a fringe opinion with little fact to back it up. In fact in terms of talent acquisition since 2013, the team has been a top 10 front office. If Rod wants a stud 1-tech, he has the voice to get it. He also says he’s looking for 1techs with 3tech abilities, this cancels out many of the top NFL 1techs. There’s a lot more saying that he devalues it than there is saying he really wants one and no one will give it to him

Dude we haven't won since '95.

"Fringe opinion." LOL

You oughta grab a share and have a Negroni, you're gonna have a heart murmur when you read a large contingent of the board's take on our disgusting ownership. Posters that are diehard, ride or die fans, that can't take him anymore. Fans that even supported him up till 2-3-4 years ago, even as recent.

Rod or any of our coaches have no voice, they've all been neutered by our egomaniacal owner that values a dollar over winning.

BTW, doesn't make you less of a fan. And no one here is saying we draft poorly. And go ahead and root for and like Jerry, that's your prerogative, but I sure as hell wont.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Guys, Jaylon wasn't good last year. He flashed some lateral instincts, a couple times, but got dusted more often than not. He couldn't regain speed to the ball carrier after getting beat. He did flash instinct to get to the qb on blitz packages, to be fair.

He was also horrid in pass pro, tho.

He will not be a mike or wil if he doesn't progress. He is young, still has a high ceiling, and was on the field for the first time in a year and a half, but even as the season progressed, he either was stagnant in his development or outright regressed, losing his snaps to 2nd string players.

I have hope for him, but right now, it's just hope.

Our hopes for a strong LB core, imo, lie on LVE and Lee staying healthy.

When Hitch was out last hear, Smith was horrid as a starter at mike. At the end of the year, he was losing snaps to Wilson.

I have hope, but am very cautiously optimistic. I pray he emerges to that stud we saw at ND.

Teams targeted him in both the run and pass game. He was beaten badly repeatedly in pretty embarrassing fashion. He was often caught juked in the hole and flatfooted.

To be fair, Lewis has targeted and beat at a similar rate yet people like him.

Jaylon made some plays too and started making faster reads and seeing route combinations as the season went on. People like to attribute his improvement to reduced play but that has been an inconclusive argument for half a year at this point.

He does take on blocks well. He has the length and pop that Hitchens and Lee will never have and when he uses technique like this vid he is consistent. the key is quick reads like him flanking the block and get outside.

We've also seen him make plays on the ball in the air. Bruce Carter failed because he was slow to react and couldn't anticipate; I see Jaylon managing to catch up to the speed of the game at least mentally.

The main thing for me is his lateral quickness. I need to see how he cuts now without the AFO. He is smart, dedicated, and if you can add quick to that I think he can be a difference maker.

How the LB are deployed is for me what I am most interested in seeing develop. Word is that Smith starts at the SAM but if LVE struggles to take on blocks, I see Jaylon back at MIKE pretty quick. LVE has the frame to take on TE particularly todays TE.

But between those two and Lee we should have 3 extremely rangy LB to deploy on the nickel. All of them have the range to cover the flat and up the seam playing outside and get from sideline to sideline and up the field from the middle.

 

[Trouty]

Teams targeted him in both the run and pass game. He was beaten badly repeatedly in pretty embarrassing fashion. He was often caught juked in the hole and flatfooted.

To be fair, Lewis has targeted and beat at a similar rate yet people like him.

Jaylon made some plays too and started making faster reads and seeing route combinations as the season went on. People like to attribute his improvement to reduced play but that has been an inconclusive argument for half a year at this point.

He does take on blocks well. He has the length and pop that Hitchens and Lee will never have and when he uses technique like this vid he is consistent. the key is quick reads like him flanking the block and get outside.

We've also seen him make plays on the ball in the air. Bruce Carter failed because he was slow to react and couldn't anticipate; I see Jaylon managing to catch up to the speed of the game at least mentally.

The main thing for me is his lateral quickness. I need to see how he cuts now without the AFO. He is smart, dedicated, and if you can add quick to that I think he can be a difference maker.

How the LB are deployed is for me what I am most interested in seeing develop. Word is that Smith starts at the SAM but if LVE struggles to take on blocks, I see Jaylon back at MIKE pretty quick. LVE has the frame to take on TE particularly todays TE.

But between those two and Lee we should have 3 extremely rangy LB to deploy on the nickel. All of them have the range to cover the flat and up the seam playing outside and get from sideline to sideline and up the field from the middle.

Always, always appreciate the feedback, my dear brother.

We have a disagreement about his progression as the year unfolded, but I certainly appreciate and take in your stance and views, Fuzzy. I lean on you a lot, I hope we see this boy explode this year.

 

[CyberB0b]

Rod or any of our coaches have no voice, they've all been neutered by our egomaniacal owner that values a dollar over winning.

Everything I have ever read suggests the opposite, at least when it comes to Rod. He has been very vocal over the years about not drafting interior guys. Shariff Floyd comes to mind immediately.

I think he is just an old man with an outdated scheme who is too stubborn to change.

 

[Trouty]

Everything I have ever read suggests the opposite, at least when it comes to Rod. He has been very vocal over the years about not drafting interior guys. Shariff Floyd comes to mind immediately.

I think he is just an old man with an outdated scheme who is too stubborn to change.

Well golly, **** in my cheerios, Bob

If it's Rod, it makes no sense, given the force at DT he had in Tampa when he won it all, and how that group was the anchor to their success (granted they had amazing LB and S personnel)

 

[mattjames2010]

It's really not fair to compare him to Sean Lee or anybody else for that matter. I want 3 Sean Lee's too, that way one should always be healthy and on the field.

He played hurt last year and he compensated the best he could. He was asked to play about 60% more snaps than he needed to. He is not going to set the league on fire this year like some fans want to believe.

He can become, a really solid LB with an arrow pointing up.

It IS fair to compare him to Sean Lee when Smith was considered to many to be a "top 10 talent". It's one thing for him not to be as athletic now, it's another when he seems to be a lower IQ football player.

 

[CyberB0b]

Well golly, **** in my cheerios, Bob

If it's Rod, it makes no sense, given the force at DT he had in Tampa when he won it all, and how that group was the anchor to their success (granted they had amazing LB and S personnel)

I'm guessing he had very little input on personnel in those days. Let's not forget that it was Old Monty and Tony Dungy who were the architects of that TB defense, not Rod.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Dude we haven't won since '95.

"Fringe opinion." LOL

You oughta grab a share and have a Negroni, you're gonna have a heart murmur when you read a large contingent of the board's take on our disgusting ownership. Posters that are diehard, ride or die fans, that can't take him anymore. Fans that even supported him up till 2-3-4 years ago, even as recent.

Rod or any of our coaches have no voice, they've all been neutered by our egomaniacal owner that values a dollar over winning.

BTW, doesn't make you less of a fan. And no one here is saying we draft poorly. And go ahead and root for and like Jerry, that's your prerogative, but I sure as hell wont.

Yea I keep hearing about our top 10 front office and every time we lose a player or 2 the whole team falls apart.

 

[Trouty]

I'm guessing he had very little input on personnel in those days. Let's not forget that it was Old Monty and Tony Dungy who were the architects of that TB defense, not Rod.

True true, but he was still at the helm. I've been on the fence with Rod just because he hasn't had ownership worth a ****, it's hard to evaluate him. He's had crap S, one good LB, another for a season in Ro, and some decent edge, namely in Tank and a little in Hardy. A little in Irving in the middle when he's active, TMcClain when he wasn't hurt. Still, way too shabby. Our D has been our achilles heel, throughout all of Romo's career here, and still.

He hasn't been given much. It's hard to evaluate. I promise you Jerry and Co are not listening to Rod in the draft room on day one. I'd be shocked

 

[Trouty]

Yea I keep hearing about our top 10 front office and every time we lose a player or 2 the whole team falls apart.

Dude, it's weird at this point, how anyone could defend our FO/GM

Outright bizarre.