Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith had one of the most prominent knee injuries in recent football history when he suffered a severe injury in the last game of his college football career, one that sent his draft stock plummeting, cost him millions of dollars, and has been cited by other college football players as a reason not to play in bowl games. So any time Smith has a knee issue, it’s noteworthy.
But Smith, who missed Monday’s practice with swelling in the same knee he injured previously, appears to be fine. Smith was back on the practice field Tuesday.
“Something from the game bothered him,” Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said of Smith’s one-day absence.
Smith didn’t play at all in 2016, his first year with the Cowboys, as he rehabbed his knee. In his second season he began to make an impact, and in his third season he started all 16 games and played well. Now he’s heading into the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, and the Cowboys appear to be confident enough in his ability to stay healthy that there’s talk that he could earn a big contract extension soon.