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In a recent, but sadly unsurprising report from this week, former NFL linebacker Aldon Smith was arrested for driving under the influence. This is the fourth time he’s received a DUI. He’s also been involved with several other legal matters. His career was already in the gutter and this all but ends any chance he would’ve had to play an NFL game again.
Aldon Smith entered the NFL as the seventh overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2011 NFL Draft. To say that Smith had a strong start to his career would be a gross understatement. In his rookie year, he put up 14 sacks and didn’t even start a single game. He was only 0.5 sacks away from tying the rookie record. During his second year, he took the quarterback down 19.5 times and made first team all-pro. He was second to only to Houston Texans superstar J.J. Watt’s 20.5 sacks. If he stayed healthy and out of trouble, he would’ve been on pace to break the NFL sack record in 10 more seasons of play. However, trouble started to come once the 2013 season rolled around. Smith started off strong with 4.5 sacks in just three games. Before Smith could play a fourth game, he was arrested for driving under the influence of Marijuana. Smith checked himself to rehab and missed five games because of it. Despite starting only eight games, Smith still got 8.5 sacks.
Smith went on to be suspended for nine games during the 2014 season and saw his production dip considerably. He was arrested for a DUI for the third time in his career and the 49ers cut him loose. The Oakland Raiders decided to take a flyer on Smith and give him another chance. The Raiders were able to squeeze nine games out of him before the NFL suspended him for a year because of an incident that happened before he signed with the Raiders.
After he received his suspension, everything went dark. Smith stayed out of trouble for a brief time, but even after once his one-year suspension was over, the NFL failed to reinstate him. They deferred the reinstatement request and then never reinstated him. Sure enough, Smith went to spend time in jail and then got into a domestic violence issue which sealed his ticket out of Oakland. The team didn’t want to give up on him, but the Raiders couldn’t get past the domestic violence problem. He went on to face more legal issues, which essentially put away any notion that Smith would see a return to the NFL. This latest arrest probably doesn’t affect his status as an NFL player, but it is indicative of a sad story of a player who could’ve been a legend.
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What Could’ve Been
Like previously mentioned, Aldon Smith was on the trajectory to become one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history. The blame lies solely with Smith for his failure to live up to his potential. He was never plagued with injuries the same way J.J. Watt has been, it’s been his consistent knuckleheadedness that’s been his greatest downfall. He was given many chances and squandered them all. But is there something the NFL could have done to help Aldon Smith avoid consistent run-ins with the law?
Former Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio was vocal in his opposition about how league rules keep suspended players away from any team contact or team activities while they serve a suspension. The first time Del Rio addressed his issue with the NFL’s suspension process was back in 2016:
“A little disappointed, honestly. I feel like from everything that I’ve gathered, obviously it’s not my job to make a rule, but from everything I’ve gathered, he’s done his duty to take care of all the things he needs to take care of. I see some of the guys that have been allowed back. My question is what’s the difference? It’s always a question mark. If a guy has a chance, he should have a chance to make a living. I don’t really agree with what’s gone down, but it’s not my job. We’ll move on as a team. That’s what we have to do, but I’m a little disappointed.”
That wasn’t the last time the coach addressed the Aldon Smith problem.
“You know, my feel is that I could help him,” said Del Rio back in 2017 while still coaching the Raiders. “But the experts know; the experts don’t allow [contact] … I just have to follow the rules. But it does get frustrating to not be able to help a young man, help provide support, provide structure. But somebody else has to make those decisions. That’s just out of my hands.”
When Smith was finally released by the Raiders in 2018, Del Rio took to Twitter to call out the NFL’s rules.
Smith showed the world that he was able to stay out of trouble for almost two years and the NFL still didn’t let him back in. Now, it’s impossible to know if Smith would’ve continued to stay out of trouble had the NFL reinstated him before it was too late, but it’s certainly possible. Surrounding him with the structure of an NFL team would’ve been better than leaving him on an island. Yes, he showed that he couldn’t stay out of trouble while being on a team in the past, but the Raiders had a solid culture during the first couple years of Del Rio’s era and it couldn’t have hurt. Even just allowing him to take the practice field and keep in contact with the team could have made a difference. Instead, he was left to figure things out on his own and he obviously faulted greatly in the process.
At the end of the day, there’s only one person that’s really to blame and that’s Aldon Smith. He had every opportunity to put past mistakes behind him and he just couldn’t and still can’t. That being said, the NFL’s rules on suspended players are to the detriment of these young men. The NFL could easily keep suspended players from playing on Sunday’s, but allow them to be with their team. It should be up to the teams to decide if the player is worthy of continuing to be allowed in the facilities. If the NFL doesn’t change this rule, expect more troubled players to go the Aldon Smith route.
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