The Carolina Panthers have announced the reached an agreement with former San Francisco 49ers safety Reggie Smith. A former third round pick in 2008, Smith's career is fairly similar to Haruki Nakamura- who the Panthers signed earlier in free agency. That's to say he was a decent player, with a few standout performances who is looking for more playing time, and perhaps a starting job.
It appears Smith was a wasted experiment by former 49ers head coach Mike Nolan who selected the Okahoma safety and tried to convert him to CB. This is turn stunted his development, and ultimately put him behind where he should be as a 4th year player. He was taking 1st team snaps for San Fran while they waited on starting FS Dashon Goldson to return to the team, so at least we have an idea that the Niners were prepared to move forward with him as a starter, if need be.
The water should be boiling for Sherrod Martin right now. With two safeties now in the fold who are looking for starting jobs he'll really need to wow coaches if he hopes to keep his job. It's fairly safe to assume that the Panthers will not be looking to take a safety in the 2012 draft, which is probably a smart move given how weak this class is.
After the jump: Smith's career stats and highlights
See Reggie Smith pick off Andy Dalton here.
CAREER STATSMORE | |||||||||||||||
Season | Team | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | |||||||||||
G | GS | Comb | Total | Ast | Sck | SFTY | PDef | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TDs | FF | ||
2011 | San Francisco 49ers | 16 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 0.0 | -- | 3 | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
2010 | San Francisco 49ers | 16 | 7 | 42 | 38 | 4 | 0.0 | -- | 4 | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
2009 | San Francisco 49ers | 10 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | -- | 0 | -- | -- | 0.0 | -- | -- | 0 |
2008 | San Francisco 49ers | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | -- | 0 | -- | -- | 0.0 | -- | -- | 0 |
TOTAL | 64 | 60 | 4 | 0.0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 31 | -- | 20 | 0 | 0 |