FRISCO – “He’s a monster.”
“Who the hell is No. 58?”
“Everything is happening and everything is looking good. … I adhere to high standards. I feel like I can compete with the best. I feel like one of the best. ”
The first quote is from QB Dak Prescott about Aldon Smith. The second quote is from coach Mike McCarthy about Aldon Smith. The third quote is from Aldon Smith … about Aldon Smith.
And all the reviews, after a week of Dallas Cowboys stay-at-home training camp here at The Star in Frisco, are accurate.
As we know, Smith fell in the NFL a decade ago with the San Francisco 49ers and recorded from 2011 to 2013 42 sacks in 43 games in the regular season. But then came some terrible behavioral issues and an NFL ban. Knowing the Cowboys would be reinstated this offseason, McCarthy soon developed a relationship with him, relied on Cowboys new D-line boss Jim Tomsula (who coached Smith at The Bay) and enlisted the help of DFW-based agent Ron Slavin as part of the support system, and signed Smith on an absurdly cheap one-year deal.
“It’s something I’ve never really lost,” said Smith of his innate ability, now strengthened by a new dedication to the weight room and a 20-pound-of-muscle increase to his 6-4, now 280-pound. frame. “It’s something I could always do, so it was not too hard to go back. ”
That’s the shocker for McCarthy, who was asked what his impressions of the field would be if he did not know the new man’s background. ”
Said McCarthy: ‘Hey, hell is no. 58? ‘ That (would be) my thought … He looks good. He strikes at all goals. You can see its power, its length is extraordinary. I’m very, very happy with where Aldon is right now. … He’s impressive. ”
We write here in detail about both Smith’s career ups and downs and career over the Cowboys, driven by owner Jerry Jones, to give second chances to talented people. And Smith, even at the age of 30 and a half from football, is sure of that.
‘Damn it certainly does not look like he has not played in five years,’ Prescott said. “He will make us all better. A great player.”
Smith spent the first week on one defensive end, facing another Pro Bowler, DeMarcus Lawrence. The tandem has adapted a few to die in this camp. … and Smith said the friendship, with Tank and the rest, is already in place.
He mostly missed “the camaraderie,” he said. The boys, the laughter, the little jokes. Just to be guys and stuff that, just locker room fun. ”
But it all came back to haunt him. That first day of practice, turning his head, raising eyebrows, ‘Who is that man?’ ‘No.
“I do not know when I told one of the boys, but I thought to myself, ‘It’s been a long way, after a lot of time back on the field.’ “It was a blessing and it was a bit surreal. But I was very ready and excited to go out and put things together.”
Of course so.
