New York Jets' Smith finds his niche at wide receiver http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2008/08/new_york_jets_smith_finds_his.html by Dave Hutchinson/The Star-Ledger Wednesday August 27, 2008, 9:32 PM Ed Betz/APThe Jets' Brad Smith is finally getting comfortable at wide receiver after switch from quarterback. Finally, the Jets' Brad Smith looks like a wide receiver playing wide receiver instead of a quarterback playing wide receiver. Smith's metamorphosis hits you with the force of a Brett Favre pass. Smith struggled for two seasons, sparking speculation that he was simply coach Eric Mangini's pet project and would never pan out. He played wide receiver, quarterback and special teams and wasn't, well, special at anything. During practices, Smith would be exhausted, running routes and then changing in and out of his red quarterback jersey to run plays designed for him. He was also taxed mentally. "This time last year, I was passed out on the sidelines trying to switch jerseys every play," said Smith the other day, smiling at the thought. Now, in his third season, Smith, a former record-setting quarterback at Missouri, is concentrating solely on wide receiver and appears poised for a breakout year. He had an outstanding training camp and preseason. He has two catches for 37 yards and rushed for 12 yards on a nifty end-around. And his most impressive catch didn't even count. Last week he made a sensational one-handed grab near the right sideline on a 29-yard laser from Favre that was called back because of an illegal-shift penalty. "That first day I came out here (as a wide receiver) I didn't know what was going on," Smith said of his first season. "I was tired after every practice. I had no idea. Now to actually be able to run a route and get open. It's been a long road." Smith, 6-2 and 210 pounds, was a fourth-round pick. At Missouri, he became the first player in NCAA history to pass for at least 8,000 yards and run for 4,000 yards. He set school records for rushing touchdowns (42) and passing touchdowns (56). Mangini took an immediate liking to Smith and wanted to make him a do-everything wide receiver/quarterback/running back/kick returner. But Smith had an unorthodox throwing motion that didn't make the grade on the NFL level and had to learn the receiver position from scratch. Every time but once when he entered the game as a quarterback he ran the ball. In his first two seasons, Smith had 30 carries (mostly at quarterback) for 148 yards (4.9 yard average) and no touchdowns and caught 41 passes for 386 yards and two touchdowns, most coming last season when he started nine game at wide receiver and had 32 receptions for 325 yards and two scores. He also returned 10 kickoffs for 187 yards and had 22 special teams tackles. As a receiver, Smith has excellent size, good speed and run-after-the-catch ability. "No," Mangini said when asked if Smith had information overload his first two seasons. "With Brad, it doesn't matter whether he's in the quarterback meeting room or not, he's going to know that stuff. That's how Brad is wired. "I think it (being a former quarterback) has real value when you understand the read progressions and how the route is going to unfold. It gives you a different level of understanding. He's worked at learning coverages. Now you understand why they're playing the coverage, where the weakness is." Therein lies the root of Smith's emergence. "Running routes is probably the biggest improvement," he said. "Route-running, body positioning, understanding the coverages. It's different from the quarterback spot and wide receiver spot to be able to read coverages. "It (learning) is gradual. I'm picking up things as I go. This whole year I'm looking at as a challenge to myself to improve on a lot of things and make plays. But to me, it ultimately comes to having fun and being a football player. I'm excited about where I am and where I'm going." NOTE: Veterans on the bubble include LB Matt Chatham, DE Kareem Brown, CB Hank Poteat, T Jacob Bender, TE Bubba Franks and RB Jesse Chatman.
I'm not sure if that's Hutch's bubble list or info provided by that team (doubtful) but I never thought it would be a possibility that Poteat or Franks would be cut this offseason. Maybe Hank is injured or lost a step. Franks... well... we need blockers.
I always liked his athletic potential and hustle on special teams. It usually takes 3 years for any WR to develop, but he was a QB. Patience was needed for him to learn a new position at the PRO level. Hopefully this is the year it comes together.
when it seemed all but maybe 4 people on this site abandonded Brad Smith, i still believed he needed more time because the guy is very dangerous when he has the ball in his hands in space.
This is why every player, coach, owner, GM, and scout who becomes an analyst or is quoted says "wait 3 years before you judge a player coming into the NFL" This is his 3rd season, if he can hold onto the ball and create space, then he will be a good #3 or #2 if Coles is hurt. This is his year to prove himself, articles like this are a good sign.
He proved me wrong with his hands in the last game. Let's hope that he keeps forcing me to eat crow for the remainder of the season.
It takes a Wr who has played the position his whole life 3 years before they start to get it at the pro level, there is no surprise that a former QB has not gotten it entering his third season. The only surprise was to the Jets fans that expect every player to be great right out of the gate.
He was great at Mizzou just a real athlete. He is going to get lots of chances this year. Somebody is going to want it. This team has 4 men who are dangerous at WR. I am going to be looking for some 3 and 4 WR formations this year.
I've got to put a lot of the blame for Smith's lack of development on the coaching staff. Asking a rookie to play several positions was just a bad idea. He was bound to be mediocre at all of them. And whoever thought an option QB was a good idea in the NFL is an idiot. Smith should have been a WR first and foremost his rookie year. That way he could have made a faster and better transition to the position. WR in the NFL is notoriously difficult for rookies to learn. Look at how few guys come in and play well there (compared to RB or LB). I think WR is second only to QB in terms of difficulty. The coaching staff should have known this and stopped wasting Smith's time by making him learn those stupid trick plays. They fooled no one and only served to delay Smith's development as a receiver.
Part of that was the fact that he wanted the opportunity to at least try to become a QB in the NFL. When they drafted him they told him it was to be a WR and I get the impression he begged for the chance.
Is this just speculation or did you read one or more articles that reported it? I find it difficult to believe that a player could whine his way to playing QB in the NFL. This isn't Pop Warner.
I remember an interview they had with him before we drafted him, he was adamant about playing as a QB in the NFL, I'll try to find the link but a lot of times sites will stop hosting that type of stuff more than a year out. I do believe he probably lobbied for a shot at the QB position, but when you are a coach you need to be able to identify the player's ability at that position early on and make a decision, lest you stunt a player's development. The Jets, drafting him at wideout, should have realized early on that a project like Brad Smith should be taking most of him reps at wideout and not have had him running to the sideline every other series in TC to change in and out of a red jersey. I saw bursts of excellent talent last season with some very tough catches and I still have a lot of hope that he will develop into something special at wideout.
Smith is great in the open field. The guy is an elusive player in space. The CS should have recognized that and just focused on putting Smith in situations his first year where he could excel. Throw some screens or dumps to the guy on a regular basis. Let his obvious athleticism take over. Then his second year he can continue to refine his route running and the other subtle aspects of WR play. That would have been much smarter then the trick play garbage they wasted Smith's (and the team's) time with.
You are not taking into account that even the most supremely talented WR's take 2-3 years to get right it in the NFL. The list of top notch WR's that struggled their first year or 2 is 3-4 orders of magnitude longer then Wr's that came into the league and lit it up. I am just talking about guys that played the position and played it well in college, which is clearly not the case with Smith. Not to defend the staff but they wanted him to be involved in the NFL from the get go and they felt that was the best way because of his athleticism. You have to at least make use of a players talents. With limited roster spots you can not afford to have too many developing guys on the regular roster. I mean there is a certain place for the "just get him on the field" mentality. He was going to be a project type guy that took years to develop, if at all, regardless if he sat and studied or if he actually got to run a gadget play or 2 and special teams. This is not sarcastic but I really do not see how you can criticize the staff at this point for a guy to be at the right spot and tack in his development as a wr. Of course this is not the regular season yet. edit: By all accounts he was working his ass off, practicing and running routes etc. etc. during the season and off season.
