How Much Is Jaylon Smith Worth?

How much is one player worth? How much is a star player like Jaylon Smith worth? Is any player worth the extension of a coach?

Notre Dame has a problem on the defensive side of the ball, and that problem is Brian VanGorder.

Jaylon Smith, along with a group of 4 other Notre Dame underclassmen with eligibility remaining, have filed for NFL Draft evaluations from the draft board advisory committee. While nothing is certain, the consensus is that Jaylon Smith will enter the 2016 NFL Draft a year early.

Cue Brian Kelly, underclassmen recruiting god. Brian Kelly has done a pretty good job at re-recruiting Notre Dame players to stay another year. Guys like Michael Floyd, Zach Martin, Manti Te’o, Ronnie Stanley (who actually has another year of eligibility left after this season), and Sheldon Day. In Day’s and Stanley’s cases, Brian Kelly out on a full court press that involved Notre Dame Vice President and Athletic Director, Jack Swarbrick.

Given all that, you can imagine Brian Kelly will attempt the same with Jaylon Smith. The thing is, is that to sell something- you have to have something to sell.

Notre Dame has a problem on the defensive side of the ball, and that problem is Brian VanGorder. The experiment has failed. The Irish defense gave up 26 touchdown drives of 70 yards or more and inside the redzone, only 3 out of 34 opponent trips inside the 20 resulted in a field goal.

Now, the Irish defense ranked 11th in the country in forcing 3 and outs, and they ranked 19th nationally in 3rd down defense. However, when the same defense is ranked 89th in giving up 20+ yard plays (59) and ranked an abysmal 109th in turnovers (only forcing 13 all season long), you can see why other teams had so many long touchdown drives. The third down stuff just didn’t matter.

Oct 17, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; USC Trojans running back Justin Davis (22) is tackled by Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive lineman Sheldon Day (91) and linebacker Jaylon Smith (9) in the third quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame won 41-31. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

With all that said, what if you are Brian Kelly and you’re visiting Jaylon Smith to try to get him to stay and he asks about VanGorder? Chances are, Smith definitely will not want to return to play under a new system- so what do you do if you’re Brian Kelly?

Is retaining a coach that for all intents and purposes has failed to deliver the desired results, just to keep your star linebacker worth it? Is one player worth it? Is a linebacker worth it? I suppose if we look back on the 2012 season we can at least say that one defensive player- one animal at linebacker, made the biggest difference in going undefeated during the regular season. So, there is that argument.

I asked Twitter what they thought, and it rendered a fairly decisive answer:

85% would keep Brian VanGorder for one more (presumably AWESOME) season with Jaylon Smith at linebacker. I’m not sure I can side with that answer. The aforementioned defensive statistics are too telling. Max Redfield talking about this defense being harder to learn than Chinese is too telling. HARDER TO LEARN THAN CHINESE Y’ALL.

Is it worth it? Is Jaylon Smith worth it? We most likely won’t ever find out, but it certainly is a possibility.