Club Shay Shay - Steve Smith Sr.

Episode Date: October 17, 2022

Steve Smith Sr. joins Shannon this week for a conversation that looks back at the superstar WR's career in the NFL, as well as all the biggest headlines in the league right now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Make sure to listen to the Good Morning Football podcast Monday through Friday on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. First of all, it cost me about $856,000. What? That's what it cost you. I'm backhanding because he was behind me. That was it. I was back new. I've been grinding all my life, all my life. Been grinding all my life, sacrifice.

Hustle paid the price, wanna slice. Got to roll the dice, that's why. All my life, I've been grinding all my life. Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Che Che. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor of Club Che Che and the guy that's stopping by for a conversation and a drink. It's a 16-year NFL vet, a five-time Pro Bowler, a three-time All-Pro,

Comeback Player of the Year in 2005, and an NFL Triple Crown winner. Led the league in catches, touchdowns, and yards. Steve Smith Sr. Smitty! Ain't no Steve Smith. Smitty! Smitty, how you doing, bro? I'm good.

No, you're doing better than good. Yeah, I am. What's a day like for Steve Smith now? Wake up at? Depends. I'm a morning person. Okay. Yeah, you play in the NFL.

You got to be a morning person. That's not true. I know some guys that weren't morning person. Well, how'd they make it? They didn't make it. Okay. I get up, you know, 6, 7 o'clock. I watch a little TV.

Okay. Catch you rerunning and seeing, catching up. Also deciding and having an internal dialogue. We're going to run outside. We're going to get on the Peloton treadmill, the bike. Then there, take my dog for a walk, feed her. May work out with my oldest or one of my kids, see what's going on.

Got a foundation of some businesses in Charlotte, go down, I got an office downtown, uptown in Charlotte. So do some of that stuff and let the day take me how it's gonna take me. As an NFL analyst, obviously you talk about the games every week. How much film do you actually watch? How much film do you actually watch? How much game do you actually watch? I watch a lot of game. I watch a lot of film. I take a lot of notes.

I try to allow the game to talk to me. I create my opinion about someone or something or about that team based on the game each week. And collectively and I may see something earmarked and then come back to it, especially if I have a game.

I'm watching a team this week against another prominent team, but also maybe have to watch these two different teams or someone else again. So I'll check to see have they improved, have they dropped. So, you know, I'll do a little bit of everything, but mainly letting the game talk. Obviously, you watch the game, but you probably have a little preference towards watching the receivers because that's the position that you play.

If I were to say, Smitty, give me your top five receivers, and if I said you got a draft, you can only get one, who are you taking? Give me your top five, and if you get a draft, you can only get one. Who are you taking? Give me your top five. If you get a draft, you can take one. Well, this is probably an answer that you're not going to expect. Okay. Who's my quarterback, first of all? I'll give you, you could have, okay, who do you want to be your quarterback?

Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes. Who do you want to be the quarterback? Somebody that has a fast processing system. Okay, so I'll give you any of the, I'll say you can have Tom Brady. Or you want Brady, you want Rodgers, or you want Mahomes? Well, I played in Carolina, so I'll take all of them. No offense to Jake. I love Jake.

Okay, okay. So you got one of those top quarterbacks. Now give me your top five receivers. Top five receivers. Currently right now, I got to I gotta you know I'm biased I gotta go with the guy whose cups always full. Okay. Cooper Cup. Cooper Cup. Give me DeAndre Hopkins. DeHop. Give me OBJ. Still? Yeah. I'm surprised. Why? I'm surprised not because I know what he represents,

but the injuries and injured again that you still believe that he's a top guy. Is this my list or your list? That's your list. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. That's your list. Hey, I'm just saying. All right, well, I picked OBJ, but you're making me change.

Nah, nobody makes me change. I'm playing the victim. Okay. Okay. I'll take any of those boys in Tampa Bay. You can't go wrong with either one of them. You want Evans, Godwin?

Give me Godwin just because Evans. Evans is a tall guy. He gets too much credit sometimes. Okay, okay. You know, I got to ref for the small people. Okay. And then, how many is that? If you leave OBJ, that's four.

Okay, four. Devontae Adams. Okay. I was wondering how long before you got Devontae, but the guy that I'm surprised by that you didn't pick is kind of your side. It's Tyreek. Hmm. I like Tyreek.

I'm going to give you some choices, and you tell me who's the best wide receiver under the age of 25. You got Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, C.D. Lamb, A.J. Brown, Jalen Waddle, D.K. Metcalf, D.J. Moore, Jerry Judy. Give me the best and give me your top four wide receivers under 25. Oh, man. Well, I don't know about D.K. just because you don't know the quarterback situation out there.

Right. And then at the same time, when they go to – when – even when Russell Whistle was there, when they needed a big play, who'd they go to? Tyler Lockett. Then if they go to someone else, if they go to the wishing well and it's not you, then guess what? You're not the guy.

Oh. Sorry. I'm just being honest. Okay. So I think he's – I mean, he walks through the door physically gifted. Yeah. But the short guys who they go to when they need a big play. DK is Robin, Tyler's Batman.

Okay. Justin Jefferson, outstanding. He has a cheat code a little bit cuz he has Adam Thielen out there trying to tell him everything. You have the athleticism. He's also a great kid as well. Right. A sponge.

He also was a Kubiak's, Clint Kubiak slash Gary Kubiak's offense. And that offense, there's one receiver that will always eat. The second receiver, you can eat two, but you just got to know what you're doing. Yeah. Who else? I mean, I could break all these guys. Jamar Chase. Love him.

He has a stellar quarterback. His offensive-minded coach understands getting him the ball. They understand that he'll be a guy that plays for a long time, has speed, but also has the ability to run exceptional routes at such a young age. You like CeeDee Lamb. I like CeeDee Lamb. I'm not really keen on hearing Jerry Jones put that pressure

and say he's a better version of Amari Cooper because Amari Cooper was Amari Cooper. You knew who Amari Cooper was when you paid him. You can't get mad at Amari Cooper because he's the same person that showed up. He's a quiet kid. He's going to bring his lunch pail, but he's not really going to get dirty. That's never been him, and there's nothing against kid. He's going to bring his lunch pail. But he's not really going to get dirty. That's never been him. And it's nothing against him.

Right. Right? That's why at the time Oakland traded him. Right. Because he just was not the lunch pail. He's not a fire, raw, raw guy that had football his life or death for me. Yeah. And that's okay.

And it is. You can't be disappointed. That's your fault for not doing your due diligence. A.J. Brown, another physical specimen. He's a physical specimen. I think his last receiver group really stunted his growth in Tennessee, the whole room. I think there were some examples that should have been better examples

than weren't. He is a dynamic receiver, and I think he's going to play well in Philly. I also think he just needs to come out and say, look, he left for more money at the end of the day. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Your guy, DJ Moore. I love DJ Moore. I love what he's playing.

Not really sure how it's going to work out overall, but I like DJ more. And he's also – he's a kind of like – like Coop. He's not really a ride-ride guy. He'll play. He'll show up. He'll do his – football his life or death for him, but he's just not a ride-ride guy. Y'all might get Baker, maybe.

I know. I hear that. You know, I got to just – if that's my squad, whether you like it or not, you got to ride with them. Even if you got to close your eyes. I do. I've been killing Baker, man. You hear it. You've been killing him.

I've been killing him. But here's why, though. Quarterbacks get too much glory for the win, and they get to blame everybody else for the loss. Yeah. for the win, and they get to blame everybody else for the loss. Yeah. You know, listen, I guess I'm just a – as a wide receiver, I just go to bat for the wide receivers, right? That wide receiver – this wide receiver could be dead wrong.

He could be – they could have him on camera sneaking into the house late. They could have his key card in his hotel room saying that he was not there at curfew. I'm going to say, no, he was there. He didn't have somebody in the car. It wasn't him. You know, you stick together. Let me ask you a question because this is the problem that I run into.

Okay. When I talk about players, if you were a good player, now obviously you're coming up for the Hall of Fame. Now being in the Hall of Fame and having won, people take what I say. Serious. Yeah. So let's not bowl, gentlemen. Okay, okay.

So you know what I'm getting at. I know what you're getting at. Now, some of the young guys have said things about me saying that I'm throwing shade. Right. Right? Let's break down shade. You know, shade is generally when the sun hits a well-established tree. OK. And that tree must be established by having deep roots. Right.

So as you what you see what I'm getting. Yeah. A baby tree must be shaded by oak tree. Right. Something that has substantial, good, deep roots. Right. Devontae Adams can't throw shade on him because he's a deep rooted tree. Right. Some of these young boys need to understand they're baby trees. Right.

They still anchored in by rope because with bad rope, they can start to grow sideways. Okay. Or it can dwarf their growing. Right. So these young, the young guys, I understand, but it's not shade.

It's really understanding. We've seen and grind it out and understand how to play ball and we also know the game has changed it's it's changed in a good way right right anytime guys are getting paid that's a good thing advancement but we have to do our jobs and sometimes guys believe that we have to do our jobs. And sometimes guys believe that we have a personal vendetta. Or I had a conversation with a guy that I asked him that I won't say is, what do you have that I don't? What have you experienced that I have not experienced? You got a girl or a wife? I have one.

Beautiful. You have children? I have children. Actually, I have grown children. Some of my children, with their ages combined, still can't rent a car in New York, in the state of New York. Some of the teams that they're on, I don't want to be on your team. Team isn't very part of where some of them are a little bit sensitive. Yeah. Right? Are you hating?

Yeah. Bro, why am I hating? All I'm saying, I'm critiquing what I've seen you do in the game time and time again. And also, like what Tariq Hill, what he said lately, I find it interesting. Yeah, very. Because, one, he's applied a lot of pressure on Tua. But also when I look at his highlights, Tariq Hill is a fantastic, he's cheetah. He runs faster than anyone I've known at wide receiver.

However, when I look at his highlights, and I'm not speaking out of hate, I'm speaking out of my own insecurities and understanding. When I haven't gotten a ball for a long time, you know how I catch a ball? Without my hands. Body catching. Yes. Yeah, he's not a, this is not, and this is not a knock, but he's not a natural catcher of the ball. No, no, no.

He's not a pure hands catcher. No. And you don't have to be when you have that amount of speed. Yeah. You'll be able to catch a lot of balls in your body because you're going to be so wide open. But when that speed leaves and you don't have the – But when the speed leaves, he's still going to be top two,

top three receiver in the league. I hope so. I just know there's a lot of guys when their athleticism starts to leave them, their numbers decline dramatically. Well, I think what he's in the root of Wigan for, I don't think he – when you play with a great quarterback. He went from the top, he went from the penthouse to the outhouse. But he doesn't understand.

I'm sorry. Smitty, you know a lot of these guys don't understand that. They don't understand how valuable the quarterback is. They think, oh, I can put up these numbers. Well, the only guy that I've seen put up numbers, regardless of who the quarterback is, is DeHop. Yes. That's the only guy.

All these other guys, you had Brady, you had Rodgers, you had Mahomes, now you got Herbert, you got Joe Burrow and things of that nature. D-Hop can honestly say, bruh, y'all see what he's throwing to me in Houston before I got Deshaun? But it's also a good system as well. So you got to have a good system as well.

You can't have negative everything and still prevail. That just doesn't happen. When you look at the money that these guys, the wide receivers are getting. I love it. I tell my mom, why you couldn't wait five years? You couldn't wait ten years? I mean, 25. You had me at 24. You couldn't wait until you were 30?

I think it's fantastic. I don't have a problem with it. I think it advances the game. know, I don't have a problem with it. You know, I think it advances the game. If you're not advancing, then you're digressing. So I think it's good. Lamar Jackson, he's working as – he and his mom are their own representatives in this situation. You see what Deshaun Watson got, 230, fully guaranteed.

Deshaun has never been a league's MVP. Lamar has been league's MVP. He's been a league MVP unanimously. What do you think is going to – what is Lamar thinking? What are the Ravens thinking? I think the Ravens want to re-sign him. I think Lamar wants to be re-signed as well. I believe that there's a disconnect somewhere somehow. My only complaint

is if you are going to pay that amount of money, I think Baltimore needs to have a better offense that's a little bit more creative that pushes the ball outside of the hashes. I don't know why I used to think it was Greg Roman. I thought there was this. I just think I believe to be competitive against a Justin Herbert against a Patrick Mahomes, Joe, Joe Burrow. I guess we got to throw to it in there because they have all of those thoroughbreds out there in Miami.

And obviously last Thursday, last year and Thursday night, the Baltimore Ravens did not fare well against the Miami Dolphins last year. So I just believe to pay a guy a quarter of a billion dollars, you got to be able to process. You got to be able to put the ball where it needs to be. This is a throwing league, right? I'm a receiver, so I always speak from this perspective. Right. I don't like playing. I don't like watching offenses or being on offense.

That looks like the wing team. I'm just not for it. Lamar's outstanding. When you offer a critique, and the critique just not for it. Lamar's outstanding. But when you offer a critique, and the critique that I've offered of Lamar is that I just don't think he throws the ball consistently, accurately enough. That's not saying that he can't throw the ball.

I didn't say that. He can throw the ball. Their offense is different. But you want to put him in an offense like Rodgers? I mean, don't you have to put him in an offense that fits his skill set? I don't know. I think his skill set is he's a quarterback. If he's not a quarterback, then put him at a different position.

No, he's a quarterback, but all quarterbacks are not created equal. You a man, but all men are at 6'2", 6'5", 8'7". That's correct. So what do we get here? I'm getting that. Okay, what's the idea? You're the offensive coordinator. You got Lamar Jackson.

Tell me what you're going to do. I'm going to feed my wide receivers. I said. You're going to feed the wide receivers? Yes. Yeah. Bateman can play. Okay.

Oh, yeah. I think he can play. I can tell you right now, Porsche is a dynamic wide receiver. He's working on his game. I've seen him. He's a guy that, because of the draft picks, didn't play a lot last year, was a healthy scratch.

Right. I've seen him make some catches in practice, in training camp. I believe he's their most well-rounded wide receiver on the squad. Okay. But he relies heavily on Andrews. Andrews is... I mean, you can never go wrong with a number 89. So, I mean, what do you expect?

Smith having played 16 years in the league, obviously have a family, because you came in with a very different situation. If I'm not mistaken, you either was married or close to being married. Yeah, we were married. So, that's very unique so you had already established as you mentioned earlier roots i got a family had a kid also right your

oldest son so you came in already i got a wife i got a kid i got responsibilities so you're looking at things a lot differently than a lot of these guys that's coming into league 2021 years of age that does not have the foundation that you had what if someone were to ask you that went into the 2022 draft steve how were you able to stay so grounded what made you so certain that in college she's the right woman she's the one that i want to build this with. Well, that's interesting because if you ask my wife, she wouldn't say that I gave her that comfort, that comfort of that I wanted to build a future with my wife.

There are some mistakes and some things that, you know, I just talk about it with my boys, that, you know, I just talk about it with my boys, that you got to be prepared and be ready to step up and do the things that you need to, that a family needs. You have to be emotionally there. I struggle with some of the things I experienced growing up here in L.A. I just, I struggle internally with understanding, really really what does a man bring to the table? It's not sex, it's not money, but what things are emotionally can you provide? And at 43 years old

now, I'm finally connecting the dots to see that it's not provided. Basically, I provided financially and a roof over my family's head, but emotionally they were bankrupt. And so understanding and figuring that out and understanding what each one of my family members, my wife, what she needs from me, how can I show up for her every day? How can I show up for my daughter? How can I lower my daughter and make and set that standard for my daughter that she's not looking, not that she is, but she's not looking for the boyfriend to be there because her

dad was there. To be where the dad wasn't. Yeah. So just trying to, you know, figure it out myself and no longer blind leading the blind. Right. More of leading from the front. And that's sometimes also leading from the back. Right. Also asking my wife, hey, what do you think about this?

Instead of saying, oh, this is my house and I know what we need. I make the money, I do this. Yeah. Let me, when you, the sacrifices, obviously to be a great player, there are a lot of sacrifices that must be made. You got film study, you got to go early, you got to stay late, you're going to miss some recitals. You're going to miss some soccer practice. How do you, how do you juggle? How do you say, damn, I really need to be there,

but I really need to be smitten. I need to be a top dog. And in order for me to be the top dog, baby, you're going to have to go to PTA by yourself tonight. Well, there are sometimes, if any other job, you know, whether if I wasn't a football player and I was a banker, you know, there are bank hours. I'm trying to find that balance. There were times where I couldn't a football player and I was a banker, you know, there are bank hours. I'm trying to find that balance.

There were times where I couldn't make events, but then there were times in off-season that we did stuff. Right. But being there physically and then mentally being somewhere else, you can get caught really going, hey, hey, hey, hello, you know, staring off. You was physically there, but not necessarily mentally there. Yeah, there were times where during the season my wife would say, I can tell it's game time because by Friday, you know,

family is tiptoeing around, you know, walking on eggshells. So just trying to balance it. And I think for a lot of my career, if I'm being honest, just extremely transparent and honest. I really, I struggle with some things. I really, I have performance anxiety. I did not really know myself. I did not really know myself. And I'm just learning myself now for the last probably about the last year.

Really understanding, you know, when you're having a bad day, like actually the deeper why am I grumpy today? Why am I irritated today? It's not that that I am irritated. It's the purpose on the why, the deeper meaning. And realizing some of that is just not being able to figure it out and know myself and why and processing things. So it's been unique. I think early on

you were really misunderstood because people thought you had anger issues. You got into a few scuffles early in your career. Was it because, like, you looked at it like, I know everybody's like, I'm a grown man. But you were really a grown man in the sense, I got a wife. I got a kid. So I see things differently.

All this joking and kiki-kiing you be doing with the homeboy. See, I know you. See, I know you like that. You kinky into a two-piece. And I'm not talking about KFC neither. So the situation, and people don't remember this, the situation, I think it was a receiver. And you had dropped it. You dropped the pass.

I'll go through it. Go through it. First of all, it cost me about $856, it. When you dropped the pass. So I'll go through. Go through it. This one, first of all, it cost me about $856,000. What? That's what it cost me. It's taken me a while the first time I ever kind of mentioned that, you know? And so what happened, there was a guy,

we came in our rookie year together. He was a fast guy. He played in arena league and it was just competition. And for me, competition, I didn't have healthy habits in competition. So when you say, if we competition, we foals. Oh, right. You know, we ain't no team.

I understand we both on Carolina, but we not. We ain't on the same team. Cause you trying to get my job. Right. And so we were playing and musa and muhammad's running the film and so we were uh we used to grade ourselves and dan hann is offense coordinator so we're grading ourselves and the guy says um he's sitting right behind me we're sitting in our chairs in our receiver room and we asked add a few uh run-ins earlier that year okay

so it was basically he didn't like me i didn't like him it was it was a known fact so normally And we had a few run-ins earlier that year. So it was basically he didn't like me, I didn't like him. It was a known fact. So normally in a situation like that, you kind of avoid each other. You're teammates, but I don't really fool with you. You don't fool with me. No, I'm going to let you. If I don't like you.

Yeah, but you avoid. No, if I don't like you, I'm going to let you know I have a disdain for you. So you should avoid each other to keep conflict down. I grew up in conflict. But he ain't growing. He was from Florida, too, so I didn't like that either. Why the hell he be from Florida and you be from L.A.? Y'all two different coasts. Exactly.

I grew up in a two-ac, you know, Biggie. Right. He's Coach Wesco. Right. Okay. Finish the story. And so we're in the meeting room, and he says, it was a pass that I think I called it and dropped it fumbled. He goes, run that back.

Man. So what does Moose do? He ran it back. He ran it back. He ran it back. And so he says, man, nobody care about what you say. And it just, it hit me the wrong way. I was already embarrassed. I didn't play well.

Right. That was about me. It wasn't about him. Right. If I'm being honest, it's straight up. And so when he did that, and I'm not justifying, I'm not trying to make it a joke, but I responded in a very immature way. And I also responded in a way I always grew up. If you

don't like somebody, you don't really have respect for somebody. So I backhanded him because he was behind me. And so when I backhanded him, hit him in the face, and we turned around, and he charged me. That was it? That was bad news. And so we had a fight. I mean, he swung, and we got in a fight, and then that was it. And then obviously...

You got suspended with two games? I got suspended two games and then he had to get surgery and he pressed charges and I turned myself in and I was charged and I had to do a deferred prosecution. I think it was two or three years of probation. I was charged and I had to do a deferred prosecution. I think it was two or three years of probation. You had to see counseling? I was already had started counseling after that.

So you knew you had some issues that you needed to deal with. Yeah, but I didn't know I had issues because for me, that's how I grew up. That was the norm. Right. I grew up when you had a problem, you fixed it with your fist. Right. So that was the standard. People would say, oh, that's not everybody.

Everybody doesn't live the same way. Everybody is not raised the same way. So that's how I was raised. Right. And it was an awful example to be for my children and put stress on my wife and then a couple of years later about four or five years later me and the db got into it uh ken lucas and and i was pressed on that i was pressed on that because i had found out some my wife was having some health issues scares my mom was uh the night before she was in in a bad place where she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes financially where she was and

i had that call in training camp and so we had altercation and i just when did you realize When did you realize, I can't fight about everything. I need to have a better way of dealing with this. That's the thing, man. It was one of the things that I struggle with now. I was on a flight coming here, and I had to do some real estate stuff. I'm selling some property,

and the buyer is like trying to make me jump through all these hoops as if I'm getting their property and they're buying my property. And so I looked at the, before I sent the email and I was asking myself, what is the objection? Do I want to sell this property? Yes. Do I want to sell it for a profit? Absolutely. Yes. Do I want to deal with all of this in the, they just signed a contract two days ago. Right.

Do I want to deal with this throughout this whole process? And my answer is no. believe that if they disagree or don't like it, present any documentations that hand over that feel that they feel that enhances their point of view. Right. And I said, if they don't, then I will only proceed and take the following steps forward from the contract that they signed. If they didn't like the contract, then I think they should move forward, termination, whatever they should. And either way, I wish them the best and God bless you. That's it. But while

I'm sitting there going, right, and I'm going in my but I have that moment, I go, But this is the new Steve. This is the new Smitty. It's not even new Smitty. It's just really just. Let me ask you a question. Yeah.

10 years ago, 15 years ago. I was told. I was told. I even know what I was going to say. Because I said, that is, I went like this. In my mind, I'm going, that is not the appropriate response. But that's how I felt. I'm like, you signed the paperwork.

Right. This is the listing price. Now you're coming back a day and a half later or two days later after you agreed to the listing price. I had it listed here. You came here. I said here. You said okay. Now today, it's a problem.

And so for me, I just, like my podcast, I cut to it. I cut out all the nonsense and go straight to the source. Free agency. Yeah. Before we get to free agency, let's talk about your situation in Carolina. You go to Carolina.

You have immediate success. You're rookie year. You go to the Pro Bowl as a returner. You're dynamic. You work your way. You turn yourself into a damn great receiver. I believe the big ball. Because you played, what, two years with Moose damn, a great receiver. I believe the bit. You, cause you played what?

Two years with Moose? Or you played three years with Moose? How many years you played with Moose? Two, no, three years. Three years with Moose. Three or four years. Okay. And then he went to Chicago and then came back.

Yeah, that's big bro. You turn yourself into a dynamic receiver because at the beginning, you know, come in and get a couple catches here and there, but you were a punt returner, kick returner. You turn yourself into a great receiver. Because at the beginning, you come in, get a couple catches here and there, but you were a punt returner, kick returner. You turn yourself into a great receiver. And so you're going back and you're like, damn. Do you look back and

say, I wish I could have done this different. I wish I could have done that different. I mean, my only regret is handling myself differently. You know, towards my teammates. Your teammates or your opponents, too? Just my teammates. Because you got it toward everybody, Spitty.

I mean, some guys are looking for it, too, though. And you're looking to give it to them. What do you mean they were looking for it? Absolutely. They found it. Whatever they were looking for, they found it in you. You know, sometimes you got to try people. Let me ask you a question.

Do you ever go into the game and say, you know what, I don't really like him? If he say anything, anything in the slightest, I'm going to tee off on him. No, so that's the interesting part. So I actually had a sports psychologist. I had a psychologist, and then I had a sports psychologist. The sports psychologist was a golf guy, actually. So he really started to teach me how to make lifetime goals, short-term goals,

daily goals, right. Just to look at like, look at, look at sports without the emotion. Okay. Right. It's a very emotional game.

It is. And he was good on that. Right. He was really good on that. Some of the other stuff he was giving me, I just, it wasn't applicable at that time. I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't, I couldn't do it.

Right. There were some things that he just emotionally, I was not able to do. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed. By the time you get your coffee, no dumb hot takes here. Just smart. Hot takes.

We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from the athletic. And of course,

Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends.

And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Right? And so I would go in the game and a lot of times when you see me, I would be talking, but I wouldn't be talking to the player I was going against. If I caught a ball and I spent it and I would say, this coordinator thinks he can cover me today. I was talking to myself.

Right. Now, I said it out loud. And then in turn, they think you're talking to them. But it was not about them. A lot of times that I played, I really played because I was trying to get out of back home. I was trying not to come back to 126 and a half a mile, right? I knew we struggled. It was tough. My mom, she worked her butt off. My dad worked their butt off. They taught me about hard work, but also knew that growing up in the inner city,

there were things that we experienced growing up poor. You don't get the same opportunities, right? But being a person that's poor, all right, I don't want to say black, just black, but being a person of poor, you have to do more, and yet you don't have the same opportunities. You got to present yourself in a better light just to maybe get an interview to not get the job. Right. So for me, I put all my eggs in football. Right.

Right? And it was tough. I had to go to community college. Right. Santa Monica Junior College. Ocho Cinco, Chad Johnson was your teammate. Was he like this in college? Was he like he is like what we saw at Cincinnati, what we see now? Was he like that then? Yeah, he was always entertaining. Yes. So did you guys like, nah, hey, throw me the ball. Nah, throw me the ball. Did you guys?

Nah, it was Demetrius Posey. He went to Venice High School. He was a better receiver. There was a guy, Anthony Cephas, went to Fairfax. He played with Oz Akeem. He was a better receiver. He tore his knee. There was a guy, you know, this is where it's fun is, you know,

there was a guy named Eugene Sykes, but we all called him Skeeter. Right. Right. There were so many players that I felt at that time in college that I was just a young guy. I was just trying to find my way. I was just trying to figure things out. So I actually got got the University of Utah

because they were watching Demetrius and Demetrius was going there. And I went to Utah really just to follow my big brother. Right. And he never made it. He ended up falling asleep from driving from Diego back up to here for spring break and fell asleep at the wheel and died.

Wow. But that was the reason that I went to Utah is to play with Demetrius. And so that's how it happened. A lot of my life of the prosperity that I've had has really been by accident. Right. Do you believe tough times make tough men?

I was reading a story and it was on IG and the guy was explaining, he says, my grandfather walked 10 miles. He says, my grandfather walked 10 miles. He said, my dad drove a Buick. I drive a Cadillac. My son drives a Mercedes. He says, in 50 years we're going to be right back where we came from.

He said, tough times make tough men. Easy times make weak men. I just think it's the perspective. I was reading, I read something i remind myself i used to remind myself um is is decreased more and more just because of the the confidence i have internally um that for a long time um i read this and it said that you are special I read this and it said that you are special.

No one is like you. You're unique. Did you always believe that? No. You are loved. Did you believe that? Nope. You're competent.

You are lovable. And it took me a long time, probably the last three years, that I really started to really believe that. But it took me this time, the pandemic and all that stuff to really sit down and really examine what's the problem. And the problem for me is, you know, I was, I was emotionally just numb. Did, did, were your parents, I love you, Steve. Did they hug you? Did they tell you how much they love you? Did you guys sit down? They did the best they could. There are times when I walk down the hallway after

my wife is reading my boys, my youngest a book, and I go in there and I kiss them. The father's walking down the hallway but the son is a little broken. Right.

You miss that. You try to give your kids everything that you didn't get emotionally, physically, psychologically, obviously monetarily. But now, yeah, more just understanding the emotional, flail love, agape love, understanding that development at such a young age builds so much in them. And knowing that, again, my parents didn't model it because they didn't know. And so it's taken me this much time. Roof over your head and food in your belly meant I love you. Roof over your head, yes.

That was the love. I don't know if the belly was. That was something. And not because they didn't. He just, you know, just trying to make it. I think when you played and I covered your career, I was in the league. Shortly after you got to the league, I retired. But I remember covering your league, covering you in the league,

and I said, he plays angry. He's like, give me the ball. I'm going to run over you. I'm going to run through you. If I got to run around you, I will. But you know what? I really prefer to run through you because I'm trying to show you something that come third, fourth quarter, you ain't going to want

to see me. Did you play angry? Was that intentional? Growing up on 126 at 9 o'clock in the morning, my grandpa used to tell me, if you want to play this game, these are the men you need to play like. Don Beebe was very familiar with Ronnie Locke.

Jack Tatum was very familiar with people. Eric Turner. D.T. Steve Atwater. Mm-hmm. Right? Greg Newsome. I mean, there are so many Greg Townsend.

Greg Townsend. Howie Long. Man, how? Man, Townsend was so dirty, man. But my point is, I watched old school football. He was old. And so watching old school football, that's how I was raised. Right.

And I know I'm not killing it in the height department. So I had to, because, you know, in high school they always say, they say, there's always someone better. Under my breath I always say, you're not going to get a chance. So for me, I played the game in the way that I watched the error of the game. Then obviously watching wide receivers, but I watched the game and played the game. And we used to play sideline pop in the street.

the game and play the game. We used to play sideline pop in the street. So the best way to play the game, I felt at that time, is check a man's heart. I mean, you could check a man's heart. The first play, Ricky Pro told me. He and I came back together. You was my roommate in the bowl game. The first play sets up the last play. So my first route sets up that next, that play you need in the third or fourth quarter for that big game.

So I take it a step further. Growing up in the hood, you know who, you know who is Susie Q up in the group. You know who's soft. Right. So you gonna,

if you already know that, so I'm just going to establish I know the gig is up. I know who you are. I know how you roll. I watch enough film. I know your little tricks. So when we line up and we play,

it ain't no magic trick. It ain't no little smoke and marriage. The first play, you want it to be a run so you can go hit somebody in the mouth or you want it to be a pass? I'm going to hit you either way. I'm going to hit you either way. So if you were to describe Steve Smith, the wide receiver,

what are you? A route runner? What are you? A technician? What are you? You know, your speed, your agility. What encompasses Steve Smith, the receiver? I mean, I just enjoy playing the game.

I enjoy the physicalness of the game. I also enjoy the checkers and the chess. There were some corners that was chess. Think about it, Steve. What you're saying now. Most big receivers. I like the physicalers and the chess. There were some corners that was chess. Think about it, Mr. B. What you're saying now. Most big, see, I like the physicality of the game. I like the bump. You're not the tallest.

No. You're not the biggest. No. And the first thing you say, I like the physicality of the game. Yeah. Because you already, you, there's no guessing. I'm an overthinker. I don't like surprises.

Right. I'm not a guesser. So I like all the cards on the table. So we're going to go out here. We're going to bump these gums. We're going to chit chat. We're going to talk. We're going to play.

We're going to follow up. So you look like, okay, two corners, two safeties, clear the slot guy. Are you thinking like, but he's a leader back there. I need to get him. If I get him, everybody else is going to fall into place. No, I mean, if I line up, I look at the linebacker first to kind of tell me what the coverage is, see what he's doing.

Watch the triangle. Then I'm going to look at the safety. And then by the time the safety, if it's not a top-tier corner, then that corner's already going to be playing in the zone. So I'm already anticipating a zone, and basically the triangle's going to tell me what type of

zone. Is it three-bale? Is it two-cad bail? Is it two catch? Right. Is it two funnel? Right. Is it six? Right. So I'm telling the corner.

Six is quarter, quarter, half. Yeah. Quarter on one side, cover two on the other side. And I'm telling the corner, come on up. You know you got a good opportunity. Yeah. So for me, it was always just anticipating and understanding what's going on. Right. It was always just anticipating and understanding what's going on. And because I was a hothead, people would assume that I was very stupid.

And so I kind of played into that narrative. And that was immature on my part. And so it's really now doing television, some of that stuff, sometimes yelling and cursing and all that stuff. But how were you able to stay? When I was doing that, I was just being lazy. Right. My father-in-law, my wife's father always says,

man, when you curse and when you kind of are ignorant, it shows your laziness. And I remember him saying that one time and it didn't. And then one time I found myself yelling and cussing about something. I was like, and so now we're doing television and some of the stuff that I do now. It's like, you know, and it's been good

because some people are taken back. They go, I know I've gotten a number of backhanded compliments. Right. Oh, you're a lot smarter than what I thought. I don't really know how to take that. Yeah, thanks. I think.

Yeah. But how were you able to stay, I mean, you played on the, you was right there on the edge. Sometimes you would look over the edge. Sometimes you would hop. How were you able to still go get 150, get 200, playing like that? Because you played – you were pissed off and you were pissed off. Yeah, I was.

Well, here's why. So I was having lunch probably about – it was probably about seven months ago. All right. He's probably not going to like this. But Mark Richardson, Jerry Big Cat, Jerry Richardson's son, used to be a president. We were all having dinner. He was a few buddies of mine.

He came up from Charleston. So we were having dinner, and he had said, Yo, Smitty, man, I remember when we drafted you as a punt returner. I said, see, that's your problem. He goes, what? He says, oh, see, there you go with that chip again. I said, no, it's not a chip. Think about it.

I was told that I was too small. But if you go on my draft class, the New York Jets drafted another wide receiver who was the same height as me, but he went to the University of Miami. His name was Santana Moss. So high as Santana Moss, the same height as me, but he's not too small. And I'm not mad at Santana. The scouts were lazy. They just didn't want to say that. We didn't respect the University of Utah. Right. Because in college, if you go back and look, I think my junior and senior year combined, I averaged 21.2 yards a catch. I wasn't a DB who liked to play receiver.

I played receiver who happened to be able to catch punts because my dad was a semi. He was a semi pro punter. He used to punt down at Willowbrook Park when I was a kid. And just like any other kid, I used to follow my pop around. And so by the time I was probably about eight or nine. You could catch punts. I can catch punts because I was just hanging out with my pop. I was trying to catch.

And at that time, my dad was punting. I thought he was punting the ball to the clouds and back. And I was just trying to catch him. I was trying to learn how to catch him. And then he got mad at me, like, if you're going to be back there, catch the ball, boy. And I'm kind of like. I'm really trying to. I'm trying, right?

And so that's how it actually happened to me catching punts just following my pop right right and and so i i was a i was a receiver but how they what the they okay he said we drafted you as a punt returner but that's not how you saw yourself no you saw yourself as a receiver that could catch punts i I was a starting receiver in college. Right. And then you drafted me as a returner. You had six or seven other receivers in the room, and you were not, I was not allowed. I wasn't even given the opportunity but to service the defense during the season.

Yeah, the scout team. As the scout team. So it wasn't that I had this chip. You were, I was not okay with being limited. I was not comfortable with being put in a box and told, sit down and be quiet. The whole check your brain at the door and just get on. No. I was already on house money.

I wasn't supposed to be here. I broke my neck in college. C4 burst fracture. So I broke my neck. Right? Grew up in the inner city. I wasn't supposed to be here. Right.

So my thought was always, they're going to fire me at some point. I'm going to lose my job one of these days. So I have two choices. When I lose my job, I can sit at home and wish I would have said and did these things. Or I can sit back like I do now and go, yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that. However, I did it my way. Should I have changed and approached some things differently? Absolutely.

But if I can go back and change it, I don't know if I'll be sitting right here. You'll be sitting because all of that is what made you who you were. And it's also made me evaluate and process and look at what I am today and how can I change? How can I be better? How can I be emotionally accountable to my wife, to my kids, to my friends? Let me ask you this. Is it because of how you evaluate

yourself, you have a more open-mindedness of evaluating yourself? It allows you to critique and analyze other players in a more fundamental way? I try to be. I'm a perfectionist anyway. So, I mean, I can't even hear my own voice. Every show I do and every podcast I do, I never re-listen to it

because I can't hear my own voice because I can already know the words. Because when I was a kid, I had a stuttering problem. Right. So I already know the words and some of the things that I didn't say correctly. And so I just and that's where the anxiety comes because I know I messed up. But see, I ran into that same problem when I first got on the air at CBS and they sent me to all these speech, these people that speak grammatically correct, phonetically correct. And I'm sitting in there, and I'm like,

at the time, rest your soul. And I've had hours and hours of tape of Ed Bradley, how correct he spoke, and how he did things. James Brown. And then one day I'm sitting, I'm like... First of all, if you listen to James Brown, we both in trouble. I work with James. He's so awesome. Man, Jamie. I'm like you listen James Brown we both in trouble I work with James he's so awesome baby you you can you can look at JB you go man everything about me is wrong he wants to like hyphenate everything and then he goes spell it out in his

mind you know like if it is or the other, just say the word. But he, but as a host... See, I'm over there. When he does that, I'm over there going... I'm over there. So, you and I both know JB. But then, Smitty, I look at him like, hold on, wait a minute. That's not what they hired. They didn't hire me to be grammatically and phonetically

correct. They hired me to give an opinion. And a part of me, a part of what's unique about me is my colloquialism. I'm from rural South Georgia. So I talk like I'm from rural South. My brother, he lost it somewhere down the line. He lost. I don't know where the hell it went. But he lost his. It stuck with me. But that's what. And then I saw Charles Barkley and I saw how well he was received. I stopped.

I said, I ain't going to these classes no more. I quit. I dropped out of school. And I had to look back. And I found an employer that says, be you. I don't need you to be anybody else. Be you. And so you found someone.

My employer says, be you, but dial it back a little bit because there's a few times i'll be on tv and i'm like can't say that one no shouldn't say that one but the thing is that i like about you but you you honest with it i mean it's not like a lot of times guys will say something about a person said person will come on the set and it all of a sudden you like now I said that you did play bad you did you did blow that side but if I if I'm incorrect too yeah you'll probably I have to face to face yeah I don't have a problem with that right the reason I don't have a problem with it is because if you're mad enough to say it, yes.

And I stand by that. And, you know, that's just kind of how I am. And I try to own all my mistakes. Right. Who reminds Steve Smith, receiver, player today's game? None of them? None. You know why? Because I look at you, you were like a big T on the –

I mean, you were a smaller version of a T on the team. Well, here's why I say no one. Why? When you go in the Hall of Fame, you go in with your own name. Yeah. Your own jersey. Yeah. Your own team.

Yes. Our parents, their name is the same. Right. You want your name to be in there. Right. I idolize Jerry Rice. Yeah. Your brother, Sterling Sharp.

But I don't want to be the next Sterling Sharp because that's not my name. That's not the person I am. There were things that Sterling did that I tried my name. That's not the person I am. There were things that Sterling did that I tried to emulate. I just couldn't do. There were things that Jerry did. I just couldn't do. Or I tried, or maybe I,

you know, I, I, I plagiarized. I stole a little bit. I saw something, but I love the players that are today that they are who they are. But because you're on the NFL network and you guys do the draft.

I don't like when they do that because here's why. Well, I still have, when I tore my Achilles, my agent, who was my agent my whole duration of my career, of my football career, to really help me get past it. Because I had a double rupture in my Achilles. It tore off the bone and in the middle. He goes, I'm going to send you your draft write-up coming out of draft. And I read it, and it charged me up.

Because when I look at my draft stuff that came out, I was a fifth to seventh round draft pick. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook,

Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast of NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll

immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So now that I'm a finished product, y'all know the next. But when I was here,

y'all didn't admire me and say that I was a pretty darn good player. So now that I'm done, now all of a sudden I'm the guy. No, man, don't do that. Do you feel you didn't get the appreciation? Oh, I mean, because we're on social media, I get told all the time I was nothing but a slot receiver.

I wish I knew that because I didn't play in the slot as much as I could have. Right. You were outside of numbers, guy. I was outside of numbers. Stationary stand, I wasn't even a Z. I was, guy. I was outside of numbers. Stationary stand. I wasn't even a Z. I was an X.

I wasn't even allowed to go in motion. Mm-hmm. You know? So I just like allowing the players who they are to be themselves. Let those guys be the standard. Don't say, oh, he's the next D. Smith. Let him be Sky Moore.

Right. Let him be Tariq Hill. There's things about Tariq Hill I can never do. Let Cheetah be Cheetah. Let him own his name. Don't thrust me onto that because, heck, I'm just getting familiar on my own. You played the blinds year of your career with Carolina. It did not end the way you wanted it to end.

Actually, it did. You wanted to leave Carolina? Yeah, I did. Why? Because it was time. I'm a very curious person. I was always interested in wondering, what is it like to be somewhere else?

And so I, you know. Had you gotten comfortable in Carolina? No, I wasn't comfortable. We was losing. No, I wasn't comfortable. No, but I'm saying you knew the system. You knew everybody. You knew the coaches.

You knew everybody. You knew, hey. I was ready to go. I had asked for a release. Bro, you had just got Cam. I know. I had asked for a release. Bro, you had just got Cam. I know. I had asked for a release. You had just got Cam.

That was the best quarterback that you was going to have. You are correct. He was the best quarterback I ever played with. And you wanted to leave that? Because it was our record that was the issue. I was my clock. My championship clock was going off. And so I wanted to go to, I just wanted to go to a different place.

And so I had, before I was released that year, I had talked to general manager of Jacksonville Jaguars. He was a 49ers coach. He was the 49ers general manager. I talked to Trent Belkin about a relief, about me going there, but I didn't want to play. I didn't want to play for the 49ers. And so my agent had worked out another deal.

I actually had Under Armour working on a new color scheme because we had backdoored a deal, but the Panthers at that time had talked to another team, and so they gave me permission to talk with the 49ers, and I decided to stay. So I already knew I was leaving, but again, people thought I was unable to keep my mouth closed. I had conjured up, facilitated,

and started to play out a whole different team throughout that season. And then when I knew I was going to get released, I kept it to myself and just kind of waited. You go to the Ravens. Yeah. And unless you played with the Ravens? You just didn't know. It was fun.

It was great. It was fun playing with the Ravens? You just didn't know. It was fun. It was great. It was fun playing with the organization. Obviously, I got to learn, meet Eric DaCosta, the new general manager, but got to meet a Hall of Famer, Ozzie Newsome. The year that we were at the Pro Bowl together, my rookie year, John Harbaugh was the special teams coach. With the Eagles. With the Eagles. With the Eagles.

So it was a lot, I enjoyed it. Playing sports as a kid, obviously you go to the NFL, so clearly you play football. What other sports did you play as a kid and what was your favorite sport? I played baseball. I was a pitcher, first baseman, shortstop, catcher. I played basketball, played low tennis.

That was it. That was it. But you always knew you wanted to be an NFL player. Yes. So going from Santa Monica Junior College, going to Utah, to the Carolina Panthers, to the Baltimore Ravens. You said there are very few things that you would change.

You would just like to be more in touch with yourself, know who Steve Smith was then as compared to now. That's the only thing. Yeah, I met some great people still support the University of Utah. Love my school. I'm always there. Go to a game or two. I'm always sneaking in Utah. Man, I'm looking at your draft.

Michael Vick, LaDainian Thomason, Richard Seymour, Hall of Fame, Santana Moss, you mentioned. Hutch is in the Hall of Fame. Steve Hutchinson, Deuce McAllister, Reggie Wayne, Todd Heath, Drew Brees is going to be in the Hall of Fame. Man, you, Deuce McAllister, Reggie Wayne, Todd Heath, Drew Brees is going to be in the Hall of Fame. Man, you had them. They were some ballers, dog.

And they was just little old me. Quincy Morgan. Man, y'all had them. We had them. Dan Morgan, Chris Jenkins. I'm going to get you

out of here on this, Tom Brady. You lose to Tom Brady in the Super Bowl at the Carolina Panthers. Yeah. And you go to Baltimore and you have them down in a playoff game with a chance to go.

Rashad Melvin. Rashad Melvin, I do the Panthers preseason game. Yeah. And he was the Panthers. He was a cornerseason game. Yeah. And he was the Panthers. He was a corner last year. Yeah. Man, that was a tough game to broadcast when I'm looking at that dude. Right.

So I try to. That's when Edelman throws the double pass. Yeah. Yeah. Rashad Melvin. Dude. Rashad Melvin has been, I think, he's been in nine, nine or ten years, eight years. He's been on like 11 teams.

That's never a good sign. Are you surprised Tom Brady's still playing? Nah, Tom Brady can process better than the best of them. He's good. I mean, playing quarterbacks and kickers can play forever. They don't take that punishment. Nope, especially with a good offensive line. Tell us about the podcast.

The podcast is cut to it. I cut through the nonsense, but also to I want to know the people inside, men and women inside their jerseys. I interview chefs, you name it, just trying to talk about stuff. Who they are outside of the profession. Yeah, outside of the profession. Who made them? What have they been through?

We've had some good guests. I'm very inquisitive too, so I'll ask random questions. Appreciate it. Steve Smith, ladies and gentlemen. Steve Smith Sr. Yes.

I was going to let you slide. It ain't a lot of people I let slide like that. You want to know the story why? One of my best friends, he's Alan Beck III. His daddy filled out some paperwork with his name. So from there on, I done built up my credit way too good. I'm not letting my boy open up a credit card my name.

So his birth certificate says senior, and my ID, a junior, and my ID says senior. No, he gonna say he's senior. No, not with my ID. So, it's fine. Appreciate you, bro. Appreciate you. Thanks for stopping by the club. Hard to pull up, but we hangin' this on you. No. Not with my ID. Appreciate you, bro. Appreciate you. Thanks for stopping by the club.

I'll just pull over. We hang this on the wall. Yeah, we just doing it. I looked that way. Yeah. All right, fellas. Want a slice Got the roll of dice That's why All my life I've been grinding all my life Look All my life

Been grinding all my life Sacrifice Hustle paid the price Want a slice Got the roll of dice That's why All my life I've been grinding all my life

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast We'll be right back. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.