What were the terms of the contract?:
Per Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, Jimmy Smith signed a four-year, $48 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens. Out of that $48 million, $21 million is fully guaranteed. He received a $13 million signing bonus and will earn an average of $10.275 million per year. Since the deal is added onto the remaining year of his contract, he is now under contract for the next five years.
(Discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
How does this contract compare to other cornerbacks?:
The top tier of cornerbacks, like Darrelle Revis, Patrick Paterson, Richard Sherman, and Joe Haden, earn about $14 million a year. So Smith’s contract puts him decidedly in the second tier of cornerback contracts with cornerbacks like Byron Maxwell, Brandon Carr, and Leon Hall. But where Smith comes out ahead is guaranteed money. $21 million in guaranteed money over four years comes out to $5.25 million per year, which is second in annual average only to Darrelle Revis.
You can look at other cornerbacks and their contracts here.
Why this might be a good contract:
When healthy, Jimmy Smith was a fantastic cornerback. I was very complimentary of Smith’s skills in my end of year review of the Ravens secondary here, and I might have been too restrained in my praise.
It’s hard to communicate simply using still pictures from game footage how good Smith was because he was so quietly effective in coverage. Film evaluators, like Ian Wharton from Bleacher Report, thought Smith was one of the best corners in the NFL when he was on the field last year. But it’s still hard to capture. He didn’t have a bunch of interceptions because people didn’t throw to the receiver he was covering. He didn’t have a bunch of highlight plays because he rarely needed to catch up to his receiver again in coverage. So the best way to communicate his effectiveness is through stats. According to Pro Football Focus, Smith was 2nd among cornerbacks in yards per coverage snaps at 0.57. Also according to Pro Football Focus, only one receiver scored a touchdown when Smith was the assigned coverage.
The Ravens are in particular need of this type of cornerback. Not only do they currently have a subpar secondary, the Bengals and Steelers both have top five wide receivers in the AJ Green and Antonio Brown. Without a shutdown corner, it will be very hard to win the division while those two receivers are in their primes.
Why this might be a bad contract:
There are three main reasons I can think of why this contract might end up badly. First, Smith was sidelined with a lisfranc injury last season, and there is some concern he might not return the same player or that it might be recurring injury. While it is impossible to know the extent to which he will recover, it is doubtful it will reoccur: lisfranc injuries are considered freak accidents.
Second, while there might not be problems with lisfranc injury, Smith might have difficulty staying on the field for other reasons. He has only played 48 out of 64 possible games over his first four years with the team. Even if these injuries seem like unrelated coincidences, there is a chance they might not be: avoiding injuries is a skill and Smith just might not have it.
Finally, Smith has had some off the field behavior problems throughout his entire career. Smith failed drug tests in college and was arrested for assault, and in 2014 he was kicked out of a bar in Ocean City and arrested at a different bar for disorderly conduct. Smith says he has turned a corner now that he is a father, but at this point, it’s impossible to know whether that is just talk. I personally don’t care much about off-field behavior that doesn’t directly put someone in danger, but it might be something to keep an eye on.
Will this have an effect on who the Ravens draft?:
Maybe. The Ravens secondary is still in bad shape and relies on the core of Smith, Lardarius Webb, and Will Hill, all of whom have trouble staying on the field. Even with this extension, the Newsome probably doesn’t think the secondary is fixed, and if the right cornerback falls through the draft, they will likely be quick to draft them. But this extension does mean a playmaking pass catcher is more of a priority for the Ravens. In the end, Newsome will likely stick to his big board and not be overly influenced by positions of need.
Potential scenarios:
Best case: Smith has little to no injury problems over the course of his contract and continues the fantastic play started in 2014. The Ravens get a bargain, paying a top tier cornerback second tier money, while Smith makes AJ Green and Antonio Brown’s lives a living nightmare whenever the two teams meet.
Worst case: Smith has reoccurring injury problems over the course of his contract and his play from 2014 was just a mirage. Given the large amount of guaranteed money in his contract, the Ravens front office never cuts him, hoping he lives up to his potential he flashed in 2014. He never does.
My verdict:
Smith was a top five cornerback in the league when he was on the field last year and the Ravens are paying him the money of a top fifteen cornerback. The biggest concern is Smith will end up perennially injured and won’t see the field enough to justify the contract. But while I do think the Ravens should have offered less guaranteed money, I don’t think Smith has suffered any injuries that are likely to reoccur. When someone suffers injuries on entirely different parts of their body, that is usually the sign of an unfortunate coincidence and not the nebulous idea a player is injury prone. All in all, I think this is a good deal for the Ravens.
Will is a Ravens fan born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He has previously written for Baltimore Beatdown at SB Nation. He is currently a senior at St. Mary’s of Maryland.