Linebacker Jaylon Smith will be among the players in Indianapolis for a medical recheck with doctors from the Scouting Combine and the former Notre Dame player’s results will be closely scrutinized by NFL teams.
Smith was on track to be a very high pick in this month’s draft before suffering a serious knee injury at the Fiesta Bowl. He tore his ACL and LCL and his medical exam at the Combine in February reportedly showed nerve damage that had some teams thinking it will be a long time before he can get back on the field.
Smith doesn’t have any more clarity on that front. In an essay for Bleacher Report, Smith writes that doctors don’t have a timetable for his return and that he could miss the entire 2016 season or be ready to play in Week One. There’s more certainty when it comes to what kind of player he’ll be when he is healthy.
“I’m the best player in the draft,” Smith wrote. “I just didn’t get the opportunity to show it as far as the combine and draft process. Watch the film. Any game. It speaks for itself. Whichever team drafts me, I’ll be happy. One team will believe in me, whether it’s as a top-10 pick, Mr. Irrelevant or an undrafted free agent.”
Before his injury, he would have had a fair amount of company in feeling he was the best players that this year’s class has to offer. Things are far murkier now, but that memory will almost certainly lead one team to roll the dice on the prospect of reaping the rewards of waiting for Smith to return to form.
