Veteran NFL cornerback Jimmy Smith will be back in Baltimore to begin the 2020 NFL season. After spending nine seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, it was announced that the former first-round pick will be signing a one-year, $6 million contract. Smith had been the consistent number-one corner for almost the entire duration of his Ravens career but ran into a number of injury problems on a year-in/year-out basis. His role has shrank following the emergence of Marlon Humphrey and contract extensions of both Marcus Peters and Tavon Young but Smith will continued to be looked at as a well-tenured veteran for the club. Despite his solid prolonged play, Smith has never been named to a Pro Bowl.
Free agent cornerback Jimmy Smith is signing back with the #Ravens on a 1-year deal worth up to $6mil, per @RosenhausSports
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 23, 2020
Jimmy Smith Signs Contract With Baltimore Ravens
Smith was selected by the Ravens with the 27th-overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Colorado. He played in 12 games as a rookie and made three starts in a rotational role behind Lardarius Webb and Cary Williams. The four games he missed due to an ankle injury that year seemed like a small blip on his career radar but it was the start of a painful trend. Of Smith’s nine seasons in the NFL, he has only played a full 16 game season twice (2013 and 2015). When healthy he’s been one of the league’s best corners but getting a full season of Smith has been hard to come by.
After playing parts of two seasons as the Ravens third corner, Smith was awarded a starting role in 2013. He would go onto start each of the teams 16 games and recorded a career-high 15 pass defenses to go along with the only three forced fumbles he has registered in his entire career. Smith would then start every game he played in for the Ravens over the next five seasons (63). 2017 was Smith’s most successful season in Baltimore. Though he only played in 12 games, the corner allowed just a 49.2 passer rating when targetted and did not give up a touchdown in coverage.
In 2019, Smith exited the Ravens Week 1 game against the Miami Dolphins and the differences between the defense with/without him were explicit. Over the first seven weeks of the regular season, Baltimore gave up the fourth-most passing yard in the NFL. Smith then returned Week 9 and the Ravens finished the last remaining nine weeks as the best passing defense in the NFL.
Since entering the NFL, Smith has played in the most games of any Ravens defensive player.
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