New Browns linebacker Malcolm Smith offers veteran seasoning that was sorely lacking in Cleveland’s LB corps. The 31-year-old journeyman has enjoyed blending into the Browns over his first few days in training camp.
Smith is ready to start cooking in actual games.
“I’m just trying to add my sauce and bring what I can to the mix,” Smith said in his Zoom teleconference with the media on Saturday. “That has been my thing so far and trying to impart whatever wisdom I have on the guys in the room and take what I can from them. Just trying to build every day.”
Smith’s sauce once made him a Super Bowl MVP during his early career with the Seattle Seahawks. That sauce tasted great in Oakland in 2015-2016, where Smith notched over 100 tackles each season. Injuries have slowed his career arc since, but Smith is ready to do whatever he can to help in Cleveland. Helping establish a winning culture is something Smith believes he can do with the Browns.
“One is definitely the passion every day to come to work and understand that you are competing on multiple fronts,” Smith said when asked about how to establish that culture. “You are competing to stay healthy. You are competing to stay strong throughout the year. You are competing to pay attention to the small details. Everything counts. That was something that we always harped on. All the good teams that I have been on and all the good organizations, it has always been about everything you put in counting toward something. There are no steps that get ignored, and as soon as you do, you give an opportunity for someone else to beat you.”
Smith has been working with the second-team defense but has picked up some first-team reps in practices.
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