Cowboys won’t cut Jaylon Smith after Saturday for 1 reason

Jaylon Smith appears set to remain with the Dallas Cowboys in 2021 because of an upcoming financial deadline.

The Dallas Cowboys signed Keanu Neal and some fans may have wondered if that meant the team would move on from Jaylon Smith. Neal is a safety who could play linebacker, meaning Smith could lose playing time in the midst of being on a deal worth over $60 million.

The only problem with cutting Smith would be his dead cap value of $9.4 million. That value drops to $6.8 million in 2022, making that a more likely timetable to move on.

There is still another reason why Smith being released in 2021 just won’t happen.

Cowboys owe Smith his salary Sunday

Smith will get his full $7.2 million salary guaranteed Sunday. So unless the Cowboys wanted to pull off a shady last-second move, Smith is back on the Dallas defense in 2021.

The former second-round pick has played in all 64 games during his four-year career and just had a career-high 154 tackles in 2020. He was also on the field for 98 percent of the defense’s snaps in 2020.

At this point, there is no reason to assume Smith would lose his job just because Neal is on the roster. Smith is still going to get 2021 to prove he belongs in Dallas for the duration of his contract.

Sunday is not only a great day for Smith. Ezekiel Elliott will get some guaranteed money as well.

Jerry Jones is going to have plenty of tough decisions to make in the coming years after signing Dak Prescott to a monster new deal. Smith, Elliott, and even Amari Cooper could all be cut next year to free up cash. But for now, the core stays in place as the Cowboys look for a huge turnaround in 2021.