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.