Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith no longer needs the ankle foot orthosis (AFO) brace for drop foot.
Smith told Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he quit wearing it when he began his offseason training in February. The linebacker played with the brace all of last year, one of the first non-offensive linemen to successfully play with an AFO brace.
“Getting that flexion back is going to help tremendously -- speed, quickness, explosiveness,” Smith told Hill. “I have been feeling great. Everything is about getting back to 100 percent. Every day I am improving.”
Smith missed all of 2016 while recovering from ACL and LCL tears in his left knee that left him with damage to his peroneal nerve. He made 99 tackles last season.
The Cowboys drafted Boise State middle linebacker Leighton Vander Esch with their first-round and have Sean Lee at weakside linebacker. Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said the Cowboys expect to play more nickel than dime on third down, giving Smith a different role than he had last season when he played middle linebacker.
“There’s a lot of reps to rotate those guys in,” Marinelli said Friday. “It will be kind of a different role for him a little bit, but Jaylon can do that in a heartbeat, and so can the other guys. But you just don’t want to give him too many things to think about right now.”
