Jacksonville Jaguars Midseason Rookie Recap: Telvin Smith
By Daniel Lago
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Heading into their bye week after a brutal loss in London, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a little more than halfway through the 2014 NFL regular season. The bye week also means it’s time to step back and briefly evaluate how some of the players have performed so far. The second year into a massive rebuild, the most interesting players to look at of course are the young guys who should eventually be the foundation for this team.
Over the course of the week, we’ll be taking a look at all of the rookies playing roles for the Jaguars right now. We’ll start with the undrafted guys and work our way down all the way to the first round pick.
Let’s take a look at the other Smith the Jaguars drafted – 5th round linebacker Telvin Smith.
Coming out of Florida State, the big question about Telvin Smith was whether or not his light frame would hold up at linebacker in the NFL. His weight and freakish speed led some to suggest a move to safety, but general manager David Caldwell took him with the intent of playing him at outside linebacker. The Jaguars were in desperate need of speed at the linebacker position, and Smith’s 4.52 40 yard dash time at the combine was one of the fastest of any defender, let alone a linebacker. He is probably much more talented than his draft slot, but his weight concerns and a failed drug test at the combine dropped him into the later rounds.
Telvin has managed to crack the linebacker rotation in a situational manner, and he’s been pretty effective. Here are his stats and grades courtesy of Pro Football Focus so far in 2014:
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For a 5th round pick, Telvin Smith has played pretty damn well. After being relatively quiet in his first several games, Smith broke out against Cleveland in week 7 and had probably the best individual defensive performance of any Jaguar so far this season. He’s been natural and instinctive in coverage, and his range to cover tight ends and running backs out of the backfield is something the Jaguars haven’t seen in years. He’s been so-so in the run game, which was expected given his need to bulk up. He’s been used sparingly as a pass rusher, but his speed is a useful tool on defense and should be called upon more often in blitz packages.
Smith hasn’t quite entrenched himself as the full-time starter at outside linebacker, but he’s shown enough to assume he’ll be the starter in 2015, and an effective one.