Not many players who are permanently banished from the league with the ability to apply for reinstatement after one year ever get reinstated. Raiders defensive end Aldon Smith seems to be on track to be among the likes of Justin Blackmon and Darryl Washington.
Via CSNBayArea.com, a video has emerged that appears to include Smith, a hand-rolled cigarette, and a conversation regarding whether it’s wise for him to be making such a video for posting on the Internet.
Easy answer: It’s not wise.
It’s still not entirely clear that Smith is the person in the video, but it sure seems that he is. And if Smith is doing things so clearly ill-advised that for the public eye, it’s fair to wonder whether and to what extent he’s doing other ill-advised things not for the public eye when it comes to the specific things he’s supposed to be doing and not be doing in order to satisfy the terms of the plan devised for him by the medical review officer responsible for Smith’s compliance with the substance-abuse policy.
Smith at one point was one of the most dominant young pass rushers in the NFL, after becoming the seventh overall pick in the 2011 draft. A string of legal issues and suspensions have left him on the outside looking in, and he may never get back on the inside again.