Cowboys First OTAs Notes and Jaylon Smith Is Now Number 9

FRISCO, Texas – Jaylon Smith is getting back to his roots. It has long been suspected that, if the NFL relaxed its rules around jersey numbers, Smith mightopt to wear his old number – No. 9. With the league officially passing that measure, allowing linebackers to wear any number between 1-59, that's exactly what's going to happen. Smith has officially changed into his new, single-digit number for the 2021 season. Third-year safety Donovan Wilson, who had been wearing No. 37 to this point in his career, is also switching into his college number, No. 6. For those not aware, No. 9 has been special to Smith for quite some time. He wore the number in high school and made it famous at Notre Dame as a college star. When he was drafted back in 2016, he even noted that the digits of his old number – No. 54 – added up to equal nine.