Steve Smith has been disliked by many and revered by many more over his long NFL career dating back to 2001. After five Pro-Bowl appearances and 16 long seasons, Smith could be hanging it up after the Baltimore Ravens’ season finale Sunday at the Cincinnati Bengals.

“I’ve been playing with house money… I got the best… you know people say come back and get some statistics and I got the best statistics ever. I played 16 years. You know today was pretty emotional out on the field um it was windy for a little bit…The sun was shining, and it was confirmation today. God winked at me.” 

Smith also added this important point as well:

The wide receiver was drafted in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers out of Utah. Smith played for Carolina until 2013 before joining the Ravens in 2014.

Over his long career, Smith has a list of major accomplishments:

  1. In 2001, Smith became the first rookie to make the Pro Bowl as a special teams player since 1993.
  2. In 2003, his 404 postseason yards were the most since Jerry Rice’s 409 in 1988.
  3. In 2005, Smith was the first player since Washington Redskins’ wideout Art Monk in 1984 to lead the league in receptions for a team that ran more than it threw.
  4. In 2008, the wide receiver became the first player in NFL history to lead the league in receiving yards per game even though he was on a team that was last in pass attempts.
  5. Along with Hall of Famer Tim Brown, Smith is one of two players in NFL history with at least 900 receptions and touchdowns via runs, catches, punt and kick returns.
  6. He’s one of three players in NFL history to return two punts for a touchdown and catch a touchdown pass in the same game.
  7. Smith holds the NFL record for highest punt return average in a game at 51.0 yards when he accomplished the feat on December 8th, 2002 vs. Cincinnati
  8. The wide receiver led the NFL in receiving yards per game in 2008 with 18.2.
  9. Smith is Carolina’s all-time lead in yards received with 12,197 after he passed Muhsin Muhammad’s 9,255 way back in 2011.
  10. Overall, Smith holds 11 Panthers’ career records as of December of 2016.
  11. On November 20th, 2016 against the Dallas Cowboys, Smith hauled in his 1,000th career reception.

Over his long career, Smith has sparred with opposing players, but he’s never not performed. Outside of 2004 when he played in 1 game due to injury and 2015 when he played in seven games due to injury, Smith has played in 13+ games in every season. If Smith plays this Sunday for the Ravens, which he’s likely to do, he’ll have played in 14+ games in 14 of 16 NFL seasons.

The Baltimore Ravens have been tweeting various moments from Smith’s press conference as well as quotes from his quarterback Joe Flacco and head coach John Harbaugh.

About David Lauterbach

David is a writer for The Comeback. He enjoyed two Men's Basketball Final Four trips for Syracuse before graduating in 2016. If The Office or Game of Thrones is on TV, David will be watching.