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I don't like Smith's game. I think he's straight when he's in a rover position and plays as the 4th linebacker like he did more in the playoff's 2 years ago against NE and Indy. I don't mind him there but when he's in the backline defending he's so bad and he can't cover ANY TE in this league and I do mean ANY. He reads the slants extremely well and all the crossing routes but if you break and out on him or run a flag upfield he's toast. He can't handle the deep post at all either but anything in front of 12 yards he reads pretty well and he's steady against the run. Smith to me is a guy you play at that Rover position and use him to spare a starter for a play or 2. He can't play every down cause he's such a liabilty to too many routes & he bites on double moves way too often & he doesn't break up enough plays. You don't see near INT's from him. He'll lay someone out but its extremely rare that he actually gets his hands on the ball.
With all this being said ... I can't stand the guy but Rex isn't cutting him. There's too many health questions with Landry and he knows Rex's system too well. One of the rookies will go before Smith and lets not forget he plays special teams for Westy and Westy loves him. Usually that 4th safety Westy will make the call cause he'll play special teams more and we all know that Smith will be picked. You can bet the house on Smith NOT getting cut just cause he knows the system so well and he'll make some playcalls based on what he see's but the defense is being touched up this year where the linebackers are making more calls and not the safety's. In that regard I see Smith playing less because of that but he won't get cut. If we're lucky he only plays 8-10 snaps a game. That's what I'm hoping ...
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