The Las Vegas Raiders are giving a former Notre Dame star a chance at an NFL comeback.
The Raiders invited linebacker Jaylon Smith to participate in their minicamp over the weekend on a tryout basis. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Smith agreed to a deal with the team on Sunday.
Smith has not played in the NFL since 2023, when he was in his first stint with the Raiders. He was signed off the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad that year and appeared in just one game with Las Vegas. He was later released and signed a practice-squad deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, though he never appeared in a game with them.
The 29-year-old Smith was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys with the 34th overall pick in 2016. Smith won the Butkus Award as the best linebacker in the country during his junior year at Notre Dame in 2015. He then suffered a major knee injury as a senior, which resulted in him falling further than expected in the draft.
The Cowboys took a chance on Smith, and the decision initially paid off. He was a standout linebacker in Dallas and made the Pro Bowl in 2019. Injuries then caught up with Smith again, and he bounced around to several teams after leaving the Cowboys as a free agent in 2021.
Smith will face an uphill battle to make the roster in Las Vegas, but he has had spurts of being a productive player when healthy.
