Cowboys DE turns heads after ban
FRISCO, Texas – Ask Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and he’ll tell you defensive end Aldon Smith jumps out.
“If you walked away from practice, you’d say, ‘Hey, who the hell was No. 58?’ That’s my thought when he walked out on the field,” McCarthy said.
Ask Dak Prescott – whom Smith has swatted a pass from and gone flying to avoid hitting – and the quarterback will tell you his new teammate doesn’t show the rust of a player whose last NFL game appearance was in November 2015.
“Energy would never tell you that,” said Prescott, adding: “He’s a monster.”
Ask defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and he’ll oscillate between the “awesome size” and “impressive” bigman frame Smith fills.
But Smith, Nolan and McCarthy all divert from the physical gifts when considering the key to rediscovering a first-round draft pick who notched a league-record 33 1⁄2 sacks in his first two seasons with the 49ers.
All emphasize how Smith will need to jell with his defensive line teammates. So far, Smith’s grading well.
“He’s a team player,” Nolan said. “He’s got a lot of personality (and) I see their chemistry. That’s so important.”
Smith signed with the Cowboys on April 1 to an incentive-laden one-year deal worth $4 million. He had been on an indefinite substance abuse suspension. He had been clean since July 2019, a person with knowledge of his reinstatement process told USA TODAY.
Smith’s off-field issues also have included arrests on suspicions of domestic violence (he later pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges in the case), a hit-and-run and DUI.
“I was thinking, ‘It’s been a long road,’ ” Smith said. “Being back on the field after that much time off was a blessing. … I was just really grateful.”