Dallas Cowboys: 3 Early breakout candidates for 2019 season
1. Jaylon Smith, LB
There’s no denying the fact that Jaylon Smith was a critical part of the breakout performance by the Dallas Cowboys defense as a whole in the 2018 season. He led all Dallas linebackers in snaps, being on the field for 95.31 percent of the defensive snaps for the year. However, it was largely rookie Leighton Vander Esch that got into the spotlight at the linebacker position.
Smith, however, was an absolute force in his own right for the Cowboys last year. The 2016 second-round pick who missed all of his rookie year recovering from a debilitating knee injury started all 16 games and recorded 121 combined tackles, two forced fumbles and fumble recoveries (one for a touchdown), four sacks, six tackles for loss and four passes defensed.
Given that type of performance in the 2018 season, it’s hard to say that Smith could really break out in comparison. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he already broke out in the 2018 campaign. The Notre Dame product was even named the Breakout Player of the Year by Pro Football Focus as he had the seventh-highest overall grade among off-ball linebackers.
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Why I have Smith included in this, however, is that he still feels like somewhat of a national secret by comparison to Vander Esch and what he did as a rookie. In the 2019 season, though, if the Cowboys defense maintains their level of play and Smith continues to contribute at this level, he’ll become the rightful star at linebacker on a larger scale that he deserves to be.