The Steve Smith Post
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Summary
Smith lost prime seasons at age 25 (broken leg), 30 (Delhomme PTSD), and 31 (Clausen/Moore dumpster fire). At age 24, he had a breakout season punctuated by an outstanding postseason. Then, from ages 26 to 29, he was historically excellent whenever he and a halfway respectable quarterback shared the field. At ages 32 and 33, he’s been very productive on run-heavy teams: only Jerry Rice and
Don Maynardhave gained
more receiving yards at those ages than Smith.
Smith, like
Jimmy Smith, may never
make the Hall of Fame. But for a very long stretch he was one of the best
players in the game, and only bad luck prevented him from having a more remarkable career. When
Ronde Barber said that Smith — and not Rice, or
Randy Moss, or
Calvin Johnson — was the
toughest receiver he ever faced, I wasn’t surprised. Smith, in a bigger market and with even halfway decent quarterback play (not to mention being hampered by
FoxBall), would be a Hall of Fame lock."
Steve steve' playoff dominance
Steve Smith