While I wait for the r/NFL mods to hopefully approve this post, I figured my fellow Jags fans would find this interesting if they haven't heard it before or done much research on it.
So obviously everyone has been beaten over the head with the "Jimmy Smith put up 291 yards and 3 touchdowns against the 2000 Ravens" stat, but I've always found this one to be more interesting.
Smith was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1992 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, who hoped to pair him up with Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper. However, before the season started he broke his right fibula and it caused to miss significant time. Once he came back, he was named the fourth string WR and ended his season with 0 receptions for 0 yards and 0 touchdowns.
His sophomore season was much of the same, but even worse. He felt an extreme pain in his abdomen and it turned out he had appendicitis, but this wasn't taken seriously by the team at first and the diagnosis took a few days to actually be given. He had an appendectomy, and then the next day the surgeon released him from the hospital while he still had a fever of 102.5F. he had to be readmitted after he started vomiting and had more severe pain from a bloated stomach. He had an emergency ileostomy, and was forced to miss the entire season. After the season, the Cowboys cut him.
In his third season, 1994, he was signed by the Eagles but released before the season began. Then in 1995, the Jaguars gave him a tryout and he was signed by Coughlin, who initially named him the fifth string WR. He would finish the season as the expansion team's leading kickoff returner, and caught 22 passes for 288 yards and 3 touchdowns.
So by age 27, those were the entirety of Jimmy Smith's receiving statistics.
His receiving stats after he turned 27?
840 receptions, 12,201 yards, and 64 TDs
I found this interesting because Smith managed to shed the injury bust label and become a great player, perhaps the Jaguars' best ever. His career basically followed the opposite arc of Odell Beckham Jr's (whose last 1,000 hard season came at the age of 27) and he had one of the best late-stage wide receiver careers of all time without having ever had the chance to do anything in the early years.
The most impressive thing about this man though is that he's gone on the record stating his greatest achievement is being sober since 2013. I hope that one day he may be able to add having a gold jacket as his 2nd greatest, but with the hill already being an unfair climb for wide receivers I'm not getting my hopes up.
7 comments
Nah Fred Taylor’s is the best jaguar ever but jimmy is right there
Jimmy was so smooth
I’m 28 years old, so I missed most of the early Jaguars glory days. But I’m super grateful that I got to see Jimmy Smith and Fred Taylor play against the Bears in 2004. Jimmy even scored a touchdown and it was the day I learned what I safety was!
Another interesting part of the story is he was originally not on Coughlin’s radar to sign for 1995. His mother sent a collection of press clippings that she’d gathered during his college years to Coughlin. That got Smith a tryout and he got signed, initially as a special teams players, but of course going on to become the #1 receiver.
That’s awesome/interesting. He had a lot of adversity in life and, in the end, it really seems like he was able to breakthrough. Watching him play is a fond memory and a gift; what an athlete. Wish him continued success and happiness in life, gold jacket or not.
Jimmy is a legend – the reason I’m a Jags fan today all the way up in Canada was watching him light it up and surprise everyone in 1996 when I was 8 years old getting into football.
And above all else he’s also a really nice guy. I’ve had the pleasure of talking with him many times, and he’s a real standup dude.
He his talent was otherworldly. One of the greatest of all time.