Smith is a 6'3" 248 pound tight end who played college ball for FIU before getting drafted by the Tennessee Titans. In college, Smith lined up in both the Half back and fullback positions. He lined up as the H-back, as the U-tight end, and as the inline blocking tight end.
Smith used his 4.62 forty time and 7.32 three cone to create havoc on defenses. He was most dangerous lining up as a receiver from the slot or outside pass catcher. The cons against him coming out of college was that he wasn't a great blocker and guys would easily get bye him, drops, that he wouldn't finish plays, and was raw. Smith also had an injury history in college, one of his injuries being a torn ACL. The projections I found had Smith getting drafted between the third and fourth rounds.
His college stat line read as followed. 178 reception for 2001 yards with 18 touchdowns. 1 carry for 5 yards, and 1 kickoff return for no yards.
The Titans thought that it was good enough to draft him in round 3 of the 2017 draft. The Titans developed him behind Delaine Walker, and appeared to fix his flaws. In 2018 Smith suffered a season ending MCL injury. In 2020, Smith also missed time for an ankle and knee injury.
Heading into the wildcard weekend in January 2020, Belichick talked about Smith. Here is Bill Belichick's January 2020 scouting report of Smith.
Belichick said, “He’s just a really good tight end, can do a lot of things. Blocks well, runs well, is a good receiver. Played him at tailback, he looked pretty good back there. He’s a very athletic player. Hard to tackle. Catches the ball well. (He’s) great after the catch, probably the best in the league. I mean, I can’t imagine anyone better than him after the catch.”
Over his NFL career, Smith has the following stat line. 114 catches on 169 targets, for 1302 yards and 16 touchdowns. 12 broken tackles and 8 drops. 82 yards and 1 touchdown on 6 carries. With 1 kickoff return for 16 yards, probably on an onside but I don't know for certain.
The Patriots have been looking for a chess piece that can play all over the board since Gronk retired in 2019. While shorter than Gronkowski, they may have finally found their answer, signing Smith to a four year, fifty million dollar contract. With having two inline blocking tight ends in Izzo and Asiasi, and two H-Backs in Keene and Vatile, the Patriots now are fully loaded at tight end. With the ability to run. Two, three, four, and even five tight end sets.
The tight ends behind Smith are sure to have to battle their way to stay on the roster with all the receiver signings the Patriots have made. Competition normally breeds success and with how dismal the Patriots tight ends have been the past two seasons, the tight ends should improve to keep their jobs.
The biggest worry now is can Cam Newton return to form or will he continue to hurt his pass catchers production and development for a second straight season. No pass catcher in New England could've succeeded with the quarterback play in 2020. Even the Patriots best pass catcher Jakobi Meyers couldn't find the endzone in 2020. Meyers will surely regress a little statistically in 2021, with the addition of Smith. Question is Will Smith regress due to the Patriots quarterbacks?
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