Cowboys rely on Dr. Dan Cooper’s expertise in selecting Jaylon Smith

9:49 PM ET

IRVING, Texas — No team knows the condition of Jaylon Smith’s surgically repaired left knee better than the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys’ head team physician, Dr. Daniel Cooper, performed the operation on Smith’s knee one week after Notre Dame’s appearance in the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl, where Smith suffered the injury.

While every team had the same information, Cooper’s intimate knowledge of the torn anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments and recovery, plus the attitude of the patient, gave the Cowboys an edge.

“It definitely helped when their team doctor does the surgery,” Smith said, “and I’m very thankful.”

Smith said he trusted the word of the Notre Dame medical staff as well as his late agent, Eugene Parker, who had a long history with the franchise, in that Cooper was …

continue reading in source espn.go.com