I agree, and I think it had alot to do with missing the entire offseason and jumping in immediately after he was cleared to play. Lack of reps leads to uncertainty, which leads to slower diagnosis of plays, which makes anyone look slow. Excited to see what a year of reps, weights, and film room does for the kid.
That's because they aren't tackling.
Clark's forte is being a coverage linebacker, and he was noted for making a couple of plays in coverage. That's a good thing because we need him to step up in that area and be a nickel backer. Clark's strength is getting to the ball and making plays. Considering that OTAs and minicamp were glorified walk-throughs, he's not going to really going to stand out in those drills. Notice that we really didn't hear anything about the DL and LBs other than the coverage note.
Fair assessment, I agree with.
All things considered, do you guys think Clark can the jump to being a better than average starter this season?
Good question. It's hard to say. New LBs coach is Scott McCurley what has been with the Cowboys since 2020. McCarthy brought him with him out of retirement since both were unemployed all of 2019. McCurley had spent the previous 13 seasons coaching with McCarthy in Green Bay, and McCurley was the Assistant LBs coach from 2014 - 2017 before he was moved to another position in 2018 before being fired along with McCarthy by the end of that 2018 season. The LB crew went from having 1 elite LB (Clay Matthews) and 2 other very good LBs in 2014......to just 2 good LBs and the rest not-so-good LBs by the end of 2017. When the Packers beat the Cowboys (with help from the officials) during the division round (34 - 31) of the 2016 season playoffs, they advanced to the NFC Championship Game to play the Atlanta Falcons, only to start off the game being down 31 - 0 and ultimately losing 44 - 21. Not good, especially since their Packers D gave up just over 100 yards rushing but 392 yards passing and 4 TDs. The 2017 season was worse for both McCarthy and McCurley, hence they were both unemployed in 2019 before they both came to Dallas and have been here ever since.
We haven't had too many linebackers who excelled their first season because there is just so much to learn. Sean Lee, who I consider one of the more cerebral linebackers we've had, didn't start any game his first year (playing in 14) and only flashed the ability that he had. Next year, he started 15 of 15 games and finished with 104 tackles (compared to 31 as a rookie). Might be a good comparison since Lee also was coming off injury his rookie year. Clark had 42 tackles in 10 games.
that was my biggest issue with Jaylon
