Falcons tight end Lee Smith announced he is retiring from the NFL after 11 seasons.
The Patriots made Smith a fifth-round choice in 2011, but he never played a down for them. The Bills claimed Smith off waivers before the start of the 2011 season, and he spent four seasons in Buffalo before four with the Raiders, two more with the Bills and a final season with the Falcons in 2021.
He appeared in 149 games with 79 starts and made 73 receptions for 523 yards and 11 touchdowns. But it was Smith’s blocking skills that kept him in the league for more than a decade.
Smith is leaving the NFL to become a youth mentor at the Triple F Elite Sports Training performance center he’s opening in Knoxville, Tennessee.
“I couldn’t feel more blessed that I get to step away on my terms,” Smith told Scott Blair of the team website. “It just doesn’t happen that way very often. Yet here I am, a stiff-as-hell fifth-round draft pick who found himself a niche-y role and figured out a way to stay around. I always said it would be awesome to leave on my own terms, because I had a father who transitioned out of the NFL very poorly. He drank himself to death shortly thereafter.”
Smith’s father, Daryle, was a six-year NFL veteran who died when he was only 46.
Lee credits his wife and children for saving him after a DUI charge led to his dismissal at the University of Tennesse followed by a fight with a teammate after transferring to Marshall.
“Listen, man. I’m lucky to be alive,” Smith said. “From the way I acted when I was 15 years old through 19, when I got kicked out of Tennessee, I didn’t have a Lee Smith. I had a dad who was an alcoholic, who beat me because he was having a bad day, or beat my little brothers. I was lucky to not end up in a ditch or dead. I didn’t have any guidance. I hope I can give guidance to others.”