The Cowboys went into Sunday’s game with the Cincinnati Bengals extra thin in the secondary. Down Anthony Brown, Trevon Diggs, and Chidobe Awuzie the Cowboys were forced to rely on a group of unproven young cornerbacks against the Bengals.

For the most part, these young corners played a solid game. But NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that we should maybe be especially impressed with cornerback Saivion Smith. According to Rapoport, Smith left the game midway with a broken hand, but returned to action even with the injury.

#Cowboys CB Saivion Smith, who impressed in coverage yesterday, broke his hand midway through the game… and came back and played, source said. He may not even miss time.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 14, 2020

Saivion Smith has had a tough journey through the league so far. Once a top high school recruit, Smith signed with the Jaguars as an undrafted free agent back in 2019. He never entered a real game however, and was waived in August of the same year.

He then traveled to the XFL, spending time with the Houston Roughnecks before the league was shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smith likely sensed he was fighting for his football life on Sunday, and made pretty good on his opportunity to play real snaps in the NFL.