Denver Broncos should trade for Cowboys LB Jaylon Smith
The Denver Broncos have an elite defense on paper, but adding Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith in a trade would take this defense to the next level.
Even if the Broncos decide to not address the roster, especially on defense, I am still confident this team can make a playoff appearance. With that said, this team still has a bit of room for improvement on defense, and Jaylon Smith can help fill one of our last remaining holes.
Why Jaylon Smith, though? Smith is a very good player at a premium position, and the Cowboys need all the defensive help they can get.
The shakedown is that Smith enjoyed a Pro Bowl season in 2019 before having a pretty rough 2020, grading out at 54.2, per Pro Football Focus.
Smith wasn’t the only problem for the Cowboys, as their defense was one of the worst in the league.
We can couple this with Smith’s massive contract, the Cowboys taking two linebackers in the 2021 draft in Micah Parsons and Jabril Cox, and trade rumors to see why the Cowboys trading Jaylon Smith would make sense.
The Broncos did draft Baron Browning in the 2021 NFL Draft and should see the return of Justin Strnad, who missed his entire rookie season with an injury, but there is still a bit of uncertainty at the position.
Josey Jewell is about as average a player as you can get, and Alexander Johnson is slightly above average.
The Broncos do not have an athletic coverage linebacker that they have needed for so long, and there is no guarantee that either Browning or Strnad could be that guy.
Both players might very well reach their full potential, but as we constantly see, players can sometimes take a few years to develop fully.
Jaylon Smith is an immediate impact player who has already shown what he can do in the NFL.
He is precisely what the Denver Broncos need. He has 4.4 speed and is excellent in coverage.
Not only that, he’s reliable. Coming out of college, his draft stock took a hit because of a serious knee injury he suffered.
Smith squashed those injury concerns, and through 4 years in the NFL, he has not missed a single game. Furthermore, he is going into his age 26 season, so he’s still young as well.
In four years in the NFL, Smith has accumulated 498 tackles, 9 sacks, and 15 QB hits.
Being that the Denver Broncos have a ton of cap space, and being that George Paton has reloaded the team’s defense this off-season, making a move for Smith would be icing on the cake.
Now, the Broncos do have a very capable LB corps. Nothing, and I mean nothing is wrong with starting any combination of Jewell, Johnson, Browning, and Strnad in 2021.
They are all talented and all have unique abilities that can thrive in Vic Fangio’s system.
But, let’s be real. Jaylon Smith is better than all four of the current ‘top’ linebackers, and George Paton did say that he wanted competition at every position.
Adding Jaylon Smith to the Denver Broncos would not only complete an already elite defense but making such a move this late in the off-season would signal that the George Paton-led Broncos aren’t satisfied yet.