How can you tell when Danny Kelly is away?

Yesterday when making their final cuts, the Seahawks opted to keep a bubble defensive tackle... of the Jacksonville Jaguars. While they decided that players like Jaye Howard and Sealver Siliga were not good enough to play on the professional level, Seattle sent a draft pick (unknown, but nothing special) to the Jaguars for D'Anthony Smith.

Who is D'Anthony Smith?

Not a lot is really known about his ability to play in the NFL because he's been on injured reserve for most of his career. Smith was the 74th overall pick in 2010 but didn't play in a game until 2012. He played in eight games last season and then was place on injured reserve. He has never finished a season on the active roster.

Smith missed time earlier this year with an injured calf.

Why would the Jaguars not want a player that the Seahawks do want? That seems rather backwards but I'd ask you this: Would you care about keeping a player that got hurt so often? We tend to hold that against guys and it's possible that Jacksonville doesn't have the patience anymore or doesn't believe he will ever be a healthy football player which is sad. But this is a guy that had a lot of potential three years ago and Pete Carroll has revitalized the careers of players like Chris Clemons and Red Bryant. It's exciting to think about what he could do with Smith, if he managed to stay on the field.

Here is a scouting report from Big Cat Country in 2010:

D'Anthony Smith was born in Berlin, Germany, but was raised in Louisiana. As a highly decorated football, basketball and track & field in the state of Louisiana, it was surprising that Smith wasn't more highly recruited out of high school. Smith eventually found a home in the WAC school, Louisiana Tech. D'Anthony quickly saw the field as a Bulldog and saw action in all 13 games his true freshman year. In the 6th game of his freshman year he was named the starter for the team and never relinquished the spot, starting in 44 consecutive games.

Let's also not forget that we're talking about role players here and likely the value of Smith versus Howard is negligible. The only difference is that we once attached hopes to Howard. Now we'll attach them to this guy.

Danny, come back.

Kenneth on Twitter