The Baltimore Ravens have seen cornerback Jimmy Smith contribute in a big way over the course of his career. He’s been a staple on the Baltimore defense, and has come up with many big plays in many big moments.
On Wednesday when answering questions from the media, Smith opened up about how he feels his football future could turn out, especially with the Ravens. The veteran said that he thinks he still has some football left in him, and if Baltimore were to come to him he would be “definitely all ears”
“As far as my future … It was a weird year – a lot of up and down – and I’m not going to sit here and act like I don’t think about it. But then again, I get out there last week, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, man; I can probably still play still.’ It’s tough, because I’m a football player. I love it. Like, this is my life, and sometimes just even thinking about not playing, I’m like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to do anything else.’ But it is a grind, and it’s something you have to mentally prepare yourself [for] the older you get. [And] having kids now, all the time, they’re like, ‘Daddy, you’re going to work again? You’re going to work again?’ And it’s like, I’ve been doing this my entire life. I don’t know what it’s like to be free. So, part of it is a little bit like I kind of want to go to the other side and be able to spend that time with my family and do those things. All the stuff that I worked hard for to get to this spot, I want to go enjoy that, but the other part of me is like, ‘Bro, you know dang well [that] you’re a football player, and you want to be on that field.’ (laughter) So, I could talk about it, but if the Ravens come to me and be like, ‘Hey, we’ve been thinking about this. What do you think?’ I’m definitely all ears, because that’s just who I am.”
Smith also said that it “wouldn’t make sense” for him to go and play for another team besides the Ravens.
“I don’t know. (laughter)I really don’t know. Like I said, it’s something that … I can say it a thousand times. Anybody who knows me knows that I’ve been retiring since my rookie year. I always say it; it’s just how I talk. But to actually really think about it, it’s too surreal, to be honest. Just walking in today, I was talking to [Alejandro] Villanueva, and he kind of … I’m not sure where he’s at with it, but you can sense that he kind of cherishes this [potential] last [week of the season]. … I don’t know if I’m not cherishing it, because I think that in my mind I might play again. (laughter)But I just don’t know. It definitely is going to be for the Ravens. I don’t see myself picking up to go play for the Browns or something like that for a year, to be away from my family. No disrespect towards the Browns, but I just don’t see … I don’t see myself wanting to do that. This is home for me. I’ve been here for this long; it just wouldn’t make sense for me to go play a year for some random team.”
The cornerback’s comments line up with what he said earlier before the season about not playing for another team. Smith has a tough decision to make in the offseason, but no matter what direction he decides to go in, it will always remain a fact that he had a phenomenal Ravens career.