College:  Florida State

Height:  6’3”

Weight:  220

Positives 

Instinctive:  Smiths anticipation is off the charts.  Not only does he keep his head on a constant swivel, but he also uses his eyes tremendously well to help him read and react to the play.  Knowing his surroundings so well allows Smith to take great angles, wiggle through traffic, and blow up screens.  Smiths keen awareness makes him one of the best coverage linebackers in the draft as well, looking smooth and natural dropping into a zone coverage look.  Bottom line, Smith recognizes the play before it happens and attacks without hesitation.  Two qualities you want in your starting linebacker.     

Athletic:  A true sideline-to-sideline linebacker, Smith has the range to cover all areas needed for his job duties, proved by one of the best 40 times at the Combine for his position with a 4.52.  Smith has an explosive first step and changes directions like lightning, helping him become an effective blitzer.  Mind games are played with the recovery speed Smith possess, as he can disguise himself on blitzes and in coverage, and then bolt to the ball in a flash.   

Passion:  His coaches described him as a player who plays with his head on fire.  A good way to describe one of the most vocal and intense players on any defense in the country.  To say Smith plays with a high energy level, or chip on his shoulder, doesn’t do his game justice.  He’s the guy on your defense that is giving the Ray Lewis type speeches during pregame warm ups, setting the tone for how hard everyone around him will play that game.  A fiery player you want on your team who plays with the kind of passionate emotion that is contagious to a locker room.  

Negatives 

Safety Size:  When scanning the NFL’s standard for an outside linebackers prototypical size, Smith’s 220 pounds doesn’t fit the bill that scouts and coaches are looking for.  With Smith excelling in coverage due to his instincts, it would only make sense to plug him into a strong safety role at the next level.  However, Smith has been very firm to teams and scouts about his unwillingness to play any other position than linebacker.  

Unless he can dramatically bulk up, teams will be forced to assume he will continue to get pushed around by interior run blockers, where he struggled very much in college.  Its clear he is physically outmatched by many players and will make his transition to the NFL with bigger and badder dudes a difficult one.  No only in the run game, but in the pass game as well, with bigger more physical tight ends causing a matchup nightmare.   

Block Shedding:  Relating back to his lack of physical prowess, Smith often gets washed out of plays in traffic, specifically when offenses are in their “heavy” sets.  Smith has a hard time scrapping off his blocks, getting pushed around and losing his balanced, when he can’t disengage.  Bottom line, because of his lack of upper body strength, Smith will get swallowed in traffic through offensive lineman’s blocks, forcing teams to find a specific package or scheme for him to play in.     

Inexperience:  Although he was clearly meant to be on the field from a talent stand point, Smith only played one year as a full-time starter for the Seminoles.  On top of that, Smith also has been shuffled around from safety to defensive end, and back to linebacker.  His lack of consistent playing time at one position may worry some teams away from investing a high round pick on him.    

NFL Comparison:  Lavonte David, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

Much like David, Smith possess uncanny awareness for a sense of whats happening around him, processing information faster than anyone else on the field.  Time will tell if smith can ever turn into a three-down linebacker like David, but the potential is there.  

Draft Outlook 

Nobody will argue, Smith is a top-100 prospect, where he falls in that first 100 players though is tough to project.  Smith projects into a schematic player who will need to be plugged into the right packages to maximize his abilities and talents.  Although he puts himself in a position to make the play on every down, the fact that Smith is undersized, and doesn’t project into a three-down linebacker, will make it difficult for teams to invest an early pick on him.  Still, its clear Smith is a guy you want on your team, and vice versa don’t want to have to game plan against, that alone should be enough for a team to justify a second round pick on him.  

Best Fits 

Smith best projects as a weak side linebacker in a 4-3 defense in the NFL, which would make teams like the Giants, Vikings, and Cowboys possible suitors as they look to add talent and depth to that position.  A few wild card teams to watch out for however, are the Jaguars, Seahawks, and Packers.  Those three teams all possess hybrid defenses that plug in “role” players to specific packages to maximize their abilities, which is something that could help Smith shine.