Daryl Lamont Smith (born March 14, 1982) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

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for the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

and was selected by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

in the second round of the

2004 NFL draft The 2004 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held from April 24–25, 2004, at the Theate ...

. Smith also played for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

College career

Smith attended

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. At Georgia Tech, he was a four-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

and a team captain who led the team in tackles for two of his four years. He started 44 of 46 games while at Georgia Tech, recording 383 tackles, 15 sacks, and three interceptions.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

The

selected Smith in the second round (39th overall) of the

. He was the fifth linebacker drafted in 2004. On July 24, 2004, the Jacksonville Jaguars signed Smith to a four-year, $3.25 million contract that includes a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $952,000. In his rookie season, he started 13 games and played in 15, but was slowed by a knee injury in the middle of the season. However, he still managed to finish eighth on the team in tackles with 78, and record two sacks, one interception and one fumble recovery. Has started 90 of 92 games and missed only three games due to injuries. He earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors in the first week of the 2010 NFL season for a performance against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

that included 7 tackles and an interception that sealed the win for the Jaguars. On November 28, 2010, Smith became the Jacksonville Jaguars all-time leader in tackles, surpassing former safety Donovin Darius. Daryl Smith has passed the 100 tackle mark in seven straight years as of 2011. Smith missed the first six games of the 2012 season due to injury. He was placed on the injured reserve-designated for return list on October 25, meaning he was eligible to return in week 15. He returned to play the New England Patriots in week 16 and recorded four tackles. Smith became a free agent on March 12, 2013.

Baltimore Ravens

Smith signed a one-year contract with the defending

Super Bowl XLVII Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

champions

on June 5, 2013. The signing was meant to strengthen the Ravens' inside linebacker core following

Ray Lewis Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. (born May 15, 1975) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 17-year career as a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football f ...

' retirement, and losing Dannell Ellerbe to free agency. Smith soon took control of the starting job. During Week 3 of the regular season, he had his first interception return for a touchdown in a 30–9 victory against the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

. On December 9, 2013, he broke Ray Lewis' franchise record for most pass deflections in a single season (17) with 19. Smith ended his first season in Baltimore with a team leading 123 tackles and erased any doubts about his ability to still play at a high level after the injury that kept him sidelined most of the 2012 seaso
^[5
sup>">">^[5
sup> On March 14, 2014, his 32nd birthday, Smith re-signed with the Ravens on a four-year, $16.1 million contract. Smith recorded 118 tackles, 3 sacks, and an interception in the 2015 season for the Baltimore Ravens. On March 3, 2016, he was released by the Ravens.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On March 17, 2016, Smith signed a one-year contract with the

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bioTampa Bay Buccaneers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Daryl 1982 births Living people American football middle linebackers American football outside linebackers Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Baltimore Ravens players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Players of American football from Albany, Georgia