Moving forward, the Baltimore Ravens are planning on keeping wide receiver Steve Smith with their team.
79 catches, 1,065 receiving yards, 13.5 yards per catch average and six receiving touchdowns. Those were the numbers that the Baltimore Ravens got out of wide receiver Steve Smith last season.
Would any wide receiver in the league retire after posting those numbers across the board in a season?
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Didn’t think so, and Ravens Smith isn’t going to either. Smith has proclaimed that he will be back in Baltimore for another season to play football for the Ravens.
In the last game of the season when Smith played against the New England Patriots in the AFC divisional round of the NFL playoffs he finished with 4 catches for 44 yards and also added in a receiving touchdown.
For the 35-year-old pass catcher who’s in his 14 year as a professional football player, it was just another year at the office. Well now that the Carolina Panthers keep looking foolish, the Baltimore Ravens are starting to look more intelligent.
Because of Smith’s awesome year Ravens head coach, John Harbaugh, announced that he spoke to the wide receiver and that he’s coming back to the team. In an interview with Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, coach Harbaugh said this:
“I talked to Steve last week, he’s excited. He’s planning on being back. We’re planning on having him back. That’s a goal of ours. I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t happen.”
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone because after the Ravens were defeated by the Patriots in the AFC divisional round of the playoffs, Smith was declaring that the wanted to return for the next season.
After the game though Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome recommended that Smith should take some time with his family to make the decision to continue with his NFL career. Newsome didn’t want Smith to become a prisoner of the moment, and to make a hasty decision coming back to the Ravens.
Because Smith is the type of person who lives and breathes football, he decided to come back to the sport that’s done so much for his life.
Next season look for Smith to keep the level of productivity up as he’s going to play in his second season working with Super Bowl winning quarterback, Joe Flacco.
The two are going to create even more fireworks in their second year than they did in their first.
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