Wide receiver Steve Smith announced last week that he’ll be returning to the Ravens in 2016, marking a change in plans from what Smith said he’d do before the start of the 2015 season.
Smith said that he’d been thinking about a return since the second week of the regular season and that his feelings about going for one more spin intensified after he tore his Achilles in Week Eight. That’s a serious injury for any player to come back from and Smith will be 37 when next season gets underway, which has led to some doubts about his ability to return.
It should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Smith’s career to learn that Smith doesn’t care for anyone saying he won’t be able to be a productive player in 2016.
“To be honest, you guys don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, so it doesn’t matter,” Smith said, via the team’s website. “The numbers I put up will be the numbers I put up, and I’ll happen to put up those numbers at the age of 37. Can I run like I used to at 22? No. But I’m comfortable being 37 years old, being on this team, and they’re comfortable with me. When I started to put up good numbers, you guys told me, ‘Well, he’ll tail off.’ What you need to do is just let me play and quit commenting about my play, because every time you all tell me something I can’t do, then you have a reason for why I’m doing it.”
Smith got out of a walking boot on Monday after wearing it for two months and expects to start doing more rehab work in a month. Once he does, he cautions he won’t be among the many rehabbing players described as “ahead of schedule” because of the severity of the injury but that appears to be the only part of Smith’s plans that aren’t moving full speed ahead.
