Jaylon Smith Plan: Follow Cowboys Cut to Sign With - and Start for - Packers

We're told it is the Packers' vision that Smith - for a variety of reasons not "good enough'' to keep his Dallas job - become an immediate starter for Green Bay.

It is, as we write this, not yet in ink. But it is the plan: Within a matter of hours following Jaylon Smith's official Wednesday release by the Dallas Cowboys, fielded a series of NFL teams' inquiries and moved quickly into serious contract talks with the Green Bay Packers, sources tell CowboysSI.com.

And furthermore, we're told, it is the Packers' vision that Smith - for a variety of reasons not "good enough'' to keep his Dallas job - become an immediate starter for Green Bay.

Smith and the Packers are "in discussions but it's not signed and not yet final,'' a source tells us at 5:30 p.m. CT.

The Packers are 3-1, as are the Cowboys, who made the surprising move this after Dallas tried but failed to trade him. ... and reportedly tried to persuade him to waive his 2022 injury-guarantee clause.

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Smith had 18 tackles in four games for the Cowboys, though he had just one tackle for the Cowboys in Sunday’s win over the Carolina Panthers. He had a season-high nine tackles against the Chargers. Smith started two of the Cowboys’ four games.

Smith was often productive for the Cowboys the past three seasons, registering 121 total tackles in 2018, 142 in 2019 and 152 in 2020. Smith’s 2019 season led to his only Pro Bowl berth.

But the linebacker room has undergone changes, the biggest being the selection of Penn State’s Micah Parsons in the first round last April. Parsons has emerged as one of the defense’s big playmakers after four games. The Cowboys also selected Jabril Cox in the fourth round, and signed Keanu Neal to play linebacker in free agency.

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Though Jaylon's marketing mindedness rubbed some observers the wrong way, his story was one of the best in recent NFL memory. Smith suffered a devastating injury in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl, tearing the ACL and LCL in his knee and hurting his draft chances. The Cowboys took a chance on him in the 2016 draft, taking him in the second round and having him sit the entire 2016 season to rehab the injury.

In 2017, Smith returned to the field and played in all 16 games, starting seven, and finishing with 81 combined tackles.

The Cowboys return to the field on Sunday when they host the New York Giants. The Packers play the Bengals on Sunday.

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