Getty Former Cowboys LB Jaylon Smith
There was nothing personal that went into the Dallas Cowboys opting to abruptly part ways with former starting linebacker Jaylon Smith.
To hear head coach Mike McCarthy frame it, Smith’s impending release — which becomes official at 4 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, October 6 — “wasn’t an easy decision” to make, yet a necessary one from a business standpoint, a “big-picture roster move” for an organization weighing both its short- and long-term prospects.
“We felt this was the time to do it,” McCarthy explained to reporters Wednesday morning, per the official team website. “I just think like anything, there’s always factors involved in how you build your 90-man roster. … Jaylon’s an excellent football player. There’s other factors involved in this decision.
“He played good football for us. In my time with him, he totally bought into the new direction of the program and everything we’ve done. The guy practices every single day and plays his ass off. I have nothing but respect for him.”
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On Sunday, Smith was named defensive captain for the Cowboys’ Week 4 game against the Carolina Panthers. He even led the pregame huddle. Forty-eight hours later, the former Pro Bowler found himself unemployed, kicked to the curb by the only team he’s known as a pro. Such is life in the National Football League.
“People have been asking about my ‘Welcome to the NFL’ moment. Last night was probably it,” first-round rookie LB Micah Parsons said of Smith’s release, via David Helman of the official team website.
The team’s leading tackler in 2020, Smith was reduced to a backup role but began seeing increased snaps with starting weakside backer Keanu Neal on the COVID-19 list, from which he was activated Wednesday. While it became clear that Smith was not in coordinator Dan Quinn’s future plans, news of his departure still caught his now-ex teammates entirely off guard.
“I think everyone was surprised,” running back Ezekiel Elliott said Wednesday. Elliott added the development “sucks” but “[we] gotta control what we can control as a team.”
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Reason for Smith’s Pink Slip Revealed
As multiple media reports have indicated, the Cowboys did not want to remain on the hook for Smith’s $9.2 million injury guarantee in 2022. This after fully guaranteeing his $7.2 million base salary for 2021. It was a contractually conscious transaction.
But McCarthy also confirmed the personnel-related aspects to what was an organizational decision. In addition to Neal’s return, Dallas wants to siphon more playing time to fourth-round rookie LB Jabril Cox while continuing to foster Parsons’ meteoric upside.
“This is about progress and a little more clarity of defensive packages and personnel groups and how we want to play,” McCarthy said, per the official team website.
A 2016 second-round draft pick out of Notre Dame, Smith ends his Cowboys tenure with 516 tackles (317 solo), 20 tackles for loss, 20 pass deflections, 15 quarterback hits, 9.0 sacks, six forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, and two interceptions across 68 appearances (56 starts). The 26-year-old met with McCarthy and owner/general manager Jerry Jones on Tuesday prior to being issued his walking papers.
“He obviously had a great career here, obviously has very strong ties to the organization and the obviously the Dallas community,” McCarthy said. “Those conversations are personal, but I thought he handled it very well.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL