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Steve Smith Sr. will retire at the end of the season

By Kevin Parvizi

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Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith is still going strong despite the fact that he was 35 last season and is now 36, as the former Carolina Panthers legend was one of the better receivers in the league last season. He finished his first year with the Ravens with 79 receptions for 1,065 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 13.5 yards per reception and 66.6 yards per game. Smitty seemed to run out of gas near the end of the season, but he had four 100-yard performances in six games to star the season, with these displays being especially key due to Torrey Smith’s slow start.

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Despite the fact that Smith is still at least a No. 2-quality receiver and is locked in as Joe Flacco’s top target for the 2015 season, he will call it quits after this year, as per the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec. If Smith is true to his word (and he almost always is), then he’ll leave the league after 15 incredible seasons, including one of the most dominant individual years at the wide receiver position back in 2015.

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That year, Smith won the Triple Crown of receiving, leading or tying for the lead with 103 receptions for 1,563 yards and 12 touchdowns to go with a whopping 15.2 yards per reception. He literally carried the upstart Panthers to the NFC Championship and had a downright memorable performance against the Chicago Bears in the previous nail-biter. Smith did all of that after coming back from a serious injury in Week 1 of the 2004 season, and, with all due respect to Jake Delhomme, he did it without having any stars around him on offense (aside from linemen) to take pressure off of him.

The dependence that the Panthers had on Smith to carry them to the playoffs makes him worthy of future Hall of Fame discussion, and after a 70-catch, 1,000-yard season in 2014, Smith has a chance to cap off his career with some more big numbers to add to his resume.

As it stands right now, “Papa Smurf” has made five Pro Bowls with eight 1,000-yard seasons under his belt. He’s 18 in NFL history in career receptions, 33rd in touchdowns, 32nd in yards per game, 14th in receiving yards, and he has the most career all-purpose yards among active players in the NFL.

Breshad Perriman might not have the best rookie year, but I have plenty of faith in the incredibly athletic UCF product who probably isn’t as raw as people think despite drop and route-running concerns. If Perriman can take some pressure off of Smith, then we could see the 36-year-old vet making a shout for 1,000 career receptions. He had 85 to go and has only hit that mark three times in his career, so odds are that he’ll come up short. But you never know with Steve Smith, since he’s done the incredible so many times before.

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