Meet Telvin Smith, Jacksonville Jaguars LB

Who is Telvin Smith? For the Jacksonville Jaguars he’s the guy who just had a major coming out party against the Cleveland Browns.

Telvin Smith finished the day against the Browns with four tackles, one sack, one fumble forced, two passes defensed, and one interception. That’s the kind of stat line you love to see from a rookie linebacker. From the fumble and interception (both deep in Cleveland territory), Smith guaranteed the Jaguars put up 10 points.

The Jaguars drafted Smith in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft and he arrived in a big way against the Browns. After mediocre game after mediocre game from the linebacking corps, Smith fed off the dominant performance from middle linebacker Paul Posluszny and came away with some special moments on Sunday. Smith as decent size at 6’3″ and 218 pounds and proved his versatility on Sunday. It was his second game starting this season.

After Sunday’s game, Smith has been in on 24 tackles, has two sacks, one forced fumble, and an interception. That late-game interception sealed the victory for the Jaguars.

Hopefully Smith can inspire some other Jaguars to continue to play well. The defense has been a completely different animal the past three weeks, enabling the Jaguars to stay in games and compete until the end.

Smith had this to say following the victory:

"I always like to say that I’m a big play guy. I like to change the game, so to be able to do that and show these guys that I could stand up on this level and play. Like you said, I’ve been doing that here and there, but today was definitely a breakout game"

If things keep coming together like this for the Jaguars then expect them to keep stringing the wins together. A running game and strong defense can do wonders in the NFL and, importantly, they can provide the basis that quarterback Blake Bortles needs to grow and be successful.