Jaylon Smith is to be congratulated. No matter what happens, the Dallas Cowboys linebacker has overcome incredible odds to play in a NFL game.

The odds are stacked against a player when he essentially dislocates his knee and injures the peroneal nerve. Most players (such as Marcus Lattimore) who dislocate a knee never return to play football, even when the nerve is spared.

Smith is second on the Cowboys depth chart, behind Sean Lee, and got the chance to start in Saturday nights preseason game. He played three series with the first team as Lee was resting a hamstring injury.

This is just preseason, so lets not get too excited or too critical. Smith hasnt played in a game in almost 600 days. This was his first NFL action. His accomplishments should be celebrated. He performed admirably and garnered one nice tackle.

The shame is without this injury, he probably would be the generational linebacker that some were projecting. Even with his suiting up to play, the prognosis regarding Smith has not changed from what was expressed here earlier this year.

There should be optimism that as Smith gets re-acclimated to game action, he will be able to make up for some of the deficits of his drop foot. He is still wearing the fancy active-assist ankle foot orthosis. (AFO). Although he will likely never regain his full nerve function, he could incrementally improve and compensate.

Remember, he is jumping a level of competition from college and even healthy players sometimes struggle during transition. In addition, he is learning a new position of middle linebacker. In college, he was an edge player.

Other than the learning curve, the move inside will help him. While the foot drop issue makes it hard to get around the corner as an edge player, he will be able to use his linear speed and strength in the middle. The concern is not plugging the A gap. The worry is changing directions and in space.

If you watch the plays he was involved in Saturday closely, there appear to be clear indications of what he cannot yet do.

The one tackle he made in three series Saturday was a powerful play where he closed in linear fashion to the right flat. That will be his strength. Start-stop acceleration and direction change will be the challenge.

Note that he does not play special teams like most back up linebackers. It would be extremely hard to run full speed and adjust his angle of attack.

His comeback is remarkable. We should all be rooting for him and look at Saturday as a good start and glass half-full, even with visible deficiencies.

Excerpt from:

Jaylon Smith's first game shows progress, ways to go - The San Diego Union-Tribune