Cowboys roll dice with injured Irish star Smith

With the No. 34 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys select Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith.

Pete Prisco gave the Cowboys a C- grade for the selection. “How can they take this risk this high?”

Cowboys Grade for Smith: C-. How can they take this risk this high?

— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) April 29, 2016

The Cowboys apparently almost traded the pick to the Bears but the deal fell apart and they simply took Smith instead.

“How about those @dallascowboys?”Jaylon Smith. Heading to Big D. What a pick. #NFLDraft https://t.co/0KGKampcTx

— NFL (@NFL) April 29, 2016

Smith was one of the best players in college football and was arguably considered the top prospect in the draft until he tore his ACL and LCL during Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State. He had surgery to repair the injury in January and is extremely unlikely to play at all during the 2016 season. The surgery was actually performed by the Cowboys’ team doctor, so it’s possible they have more information about the health of Smith’s knee than any other team.

A few weeks after that surgery, Smith posted video of himself walking without a knee brace in the weight room:

Amazing walking without the knee brace six days after being restricted for six weeks and feels fantastic! pic.twitter.com/dAW8OW09Ke

— Jaylon Smith (@thejaylonsmith) February 24, 2016

While Smith obviously put that video on Twitter with the hopes of quelling some of the fear surrounding his health, that’s not exactly how it went down. Dr. David Chao, the former team physician for the Chargers, noticed …

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