Green Bay Packers: With Roster Space Needed, LB Jaylon Smith is Released

After the Dallas Cowboys had released linebacker Jaylon Smith, the Green Bay Packers signed him in what was regarded as a low-risk deal.

Smith signed with Green Bay for the veteran minimum, taking up little cap space, with the hope that he could provide the Packers with an additional coverage presence in obvious passing situations.

However, according to Adam Schefter, after just a few games, the Green Bay Packers have released Smith.

This really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise after Smith was a healthy scratch during last Thursday’s game with Arizona.

With the Packers, Smith was on the field for only 27 snaps over two games and logged two pressures on blitzes, one tackle, and allowed three catches on three targets for 29 yards, according to PFF ($$).

In fact, his overall grade from PFF during that span was only 34.8 out of 100. On top of that, Smith does not bring any special teams contributions to the table either.

Unfortunately, the once productive Smith has been hampered by injuries and has not found anywhere near the same success that he had earlier on in his career. After the initial signing, I asked Reid Hanson of Sport DFW what had changed, and he had this to say:

"“Jaylon Smith has had a bizarre career with the Cowboys. First, there’s the infamous knee injury he had to overcome. After red-shirting for a year and a half, he broke out big in 2018. Even though he was noticeably hampered by his knee, he was a star and playmaker. Cowboys fans loved him.He took that amazing season and cashed in, preemptively signing an extension in the summer. Sadly, that was his last good season. He would go on to post gaudy tackle numbers in 2019 and 2020 while playing a ridiculous number of snaps, but he was a mess. He made the Pro Bowl in 2019 but that was on his reputation from 2018, not his play in 2019. Bob Strum at The Athletic ($$) has been chronicling his poor play for quite some time and most of us that watch and grade film have been very vocal about Smith’s poor play over the years since.Here’s the thing – Dallas would have cut him this offseason but since his salary was fully guaranteed this year it was pointless. At the start of the season, he was no better than LB4 and he refused to play special teams. He logged only 16 snaps in week 1. Injuries to the position group gave him more playing time in weeks 2-4, but with players now returning, he would be back to LB4.The reason he was cut right now is because there’s injury protections in his contract that guarantees his money in 2022 should he sustain a major injury. Dallas didn’t want him this season, let alone be on the hook for next, so they paid him to leave.”"

With several players potentially on their way back from injuries, including Marquez Valdes-Scantling and David Bakhtiari, and who knows, perhaps an addition coming via trade, the Green Bay Packers were in need of roster space.

And with six off-ball linebackers on the roster prior to Smith’s release, all things considered, it made sense that the cut came from this position group.

The Green Bay Packers now have 50 players on the active roster.