Compliments aren’t always easy for Steve Smith to digest, even at 37. The reasons for that predate his 16-year NFL career, as a poor kid in Los Angeles. They mounted as he made the jump from junior college to Utah. They multiplied when, after beating the odds, he still couldn’t get a legitimate shot at receiver in his first NFL season.
Every year it seems there’s a new player coming out of college who has the qualities to be “the next Steve Smith.” That used to bother Smith because the proclamations came from the same scouts who were dropping Smith from their boards in 2001.