20 years later, Steve Smith remains among Carolina Panthers' best draft-day calls

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Then-Carolina Panthers wide receivers coach Mike McCoy had his eyes set on Utah's Steve Smith when he entered the war room at Bank of America Stadium for the 2001 NFL draft.

For weeks, McCoy had been doing a soft sell on Smith to head coach George Seifert, not wanting his bias as a former Utah quarterback to make it appear this was more than a football evaluation on a 5-foot-9 player viewed more as a return specialist than a receiver.

"I had this inside scoop on Steve," said McCoy, six years removed from quarterbacking the Utes to a top-10 ranking. "I didn't want anybody to say, 'But you're just a Utah guy.'"

Much of his inside information came from Fred Graves, who recruited McCoy and Smith to Utah. Graves had coached Smith the previous two seasons, but was now in his first year as an NFL receivers coach with Buffalo. Graves was in the Bills' war room 650 miles away doing a hard sell on Smith to coach Gregg Williams.

"At that time our offensive coordinator [Mike Sheppard] said, 'No, he's a little guy. He's more of a returner,'" Graves recalled. "I said, 'No, he's more of a receiver who can return.'" The Panthers selected Smith in the third round with the 74th pick, two ahead of the Bills.

The rest is history.

Smith went on to become one of the fiercest wide receivers in the NFL and now a first-year candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, ranking eighth in league history in receiving yards (14,731) and 12th in receptions (1,031).

Graves called McCoy soon after Smith was selected to jokingly remind McCoy he stole Graves' pick. Graves still doesn't let McCoy forget it today.

"We were going to take him a few picks later," Graves said with a sigh. "We used to laugh about that, but I was glad he got that chance. That's all he needed was a chance."

Meanwhile, Smith felt slighted, having to wait so long to be picked.

"I couldn't believe teams didn't draft me in the first round," he told the team website last year when reliving his draft journey. "I was all about me. I was, man. I guess I was pissed off for greatness."

Leading up to the draft

Seifert had a fondness for big receivers, having come from San Francisco where he coached Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens, who were 6-foot-2 and 6-3, respectively.

He had Muhsin Muhammad, at 6-2, as the centerpiece of his Carolina receiving corps.

Convincing him a 5-9, 184-pound player from Utah would be his next star took some doing.

First McCoy sold special teams coach Scott O'Brien on Smith. Then the two worked on Richard Williamson, in his second year as offensive coordinator after six seasons as the receivers coach.

After researching Smith's sometimes combative history to make sure that wasn't going to be a big issue, they went to Seifert.

"The first thing we showed was his return game, the number of returns he'd taken all the way," McCoy said. "From there, we showed the highlights of him receiving, how explosive he is and how he catches a ball and takes it to the house and outruns everybody."

Near the end of the session, McCoy showed one play he'd been holding back.

"It was against Cal Berkeley," McCoy said. "It's a run play. Steve blocks a corner out of bounds and pile drives him over the bench."

That led to a couple of phone calls, one to Sean McNabb, the special teams/running backs coach at Utah.

"I said, 'I'm here with Coach Seifert. I'd like you to tell Coach about Steve Smith,'" McCoy said.

Nothing but raves about Smith followed.

"There was no doubt if you gave him a chance, and he could get his hands on it, he probably was going to catch it because he was so damn strong," said McCoy, who was the head coach of the Chargers from 2013 to '16.

Long-time scout Jack Bushofsky saw that in the pre-draft process. He was especially impressed that Smith participated in the Blue-Gray All-Star Game, East-West Shrine Game and Senior Bowl, saying it was rare.

Bushofsky also saw the fiery anger in Smith, which led to fights with teammates at Utah and, later on, in Carolina -- including one in 2002 that led to Smith's arrest and private counseling.

However, Bushofsky didn't find anything before the draft that made him think Smith was a troublemaker. "I grew up in a tough area in Pittsburgh," Bushofsky said. "I was in jail once or twice as a kid for doing stupid stuff, so I tried to give each player a benefit as much as I could. I never could pinpoint anything that would say he was going to be a ... malcontent."

Inside the war room

Smith's name was listed in the lower rounds when McCoy entered the draft room.

"Then Coach Seifert put Steve's name up in the third round and said if Steve is there, we're drafting him," he recalled.

Bushofsky began talking about Smith in the second round because his measurables compared to Miami receiver Santana Moss (5-10, 184), who was selected by the New York Jets with the 16th overall pick.

Moss had a faster 40 time (4.31 to Smith's 4.44) at the NFL combine and had a better vertical jump (42 inches to 38.5). Moss also had 99 catches for 1,647 yards and 11 touchdowns his final two seasons, compared to Smith's 78 catches for 1,603 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The biggest difference was Moss played for a nationally acclaimed program and Smith for a Utah team coming off a 4-7 season against lesser competition.

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. had Moss ranked as the fifth-best receiver and Smith at No. 18.

Then-Utah quarterback Darnell Arceneaux thinks playing for a lesser program pushed Smith down many draft boards.

And that, he said, was a mistake.

"He was a spark plug, man," said Arceneaux, now a high school athletic director in Hawaii. "He came in [as] one of the most determined players I've ever met. He loved to compete, hated when he lost a one-on-one, hated when he dropped a ball.

"You get some of these prima donna receivers where they're not very physical at the point of attack. Not Steve. And his ball skills were some of the best of any receiver I'd ever been around."

Arceneaux didn't see a 5-9 receiver.

"I would throw the ball to Steve like he was 6-7," he said.

Fortunately for the Panthers, they saw that as well.

"Here's the third round and we take Steve Smith," McCoy said.

'Scenic route'

In 2020, Smith recalled in a video for the Panthers' website how he was "just a guy from Los Angeles going to a school in Utah, projected as the 11th-best receiver and likely to go in the fifth or sixth round."

"I had to go what I like to call the scenic route," Smith said.

This was Smith's way of saying he should have been taken earlier. When the Panthers called and asked if he'd like to play for Carolina, Smith responded, "Heck yeah, why not?"

"But here's the inside secret," Smith said in the video. "I was so disappointed that I was that late ... so in my mind I wanted to be a Carolina Panther, but in my heart I was disappointed."

Six receivers went in the first round, including two in the top 10. Four more went in the second round, including Chad Johnson, Smith's teammate at Santa Monica College.

The Panthers made Smith the first receiver selected in the third round after taking linebacker Dan Morgan at No. 11 overall and defensive tackle Kris Jenkins in the second round at No. 44.

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane, then working in football operations for the Panthers, sensed Smith's drive to prove every team that passed on him wrong from the minute he walked into Bank of America Stadium.

"I was greeting the guys one by one, kind of directing traffic," he said. "I remember Steve had that swagger and that look. He was basically telling people, 'Hey, you just drafted one helluva player. You guys have no idea.'

"I was, 'Man, this dude was really feeling himself.' "

Smith tells draft prospects today where you're selected isn't the important thing.

"The journey begins after you get drafted," he said.

'I thought he was angry'

Muhammad was heading into his sixth season and coming off consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons when Smith was drafted. He wasn't even sure the Panthers needed another receiver.

He'll never forget the first time they met.

"I thought he was angry," Muhammad said in describing Smith's demeanor.

On the field, Smith matched Muhammad's physicality, something Bushofsky saw in his draft evaluation.

"I equated him to being a bouncer," Bushofsky said. "I said, 'I would hate to be a bouncer and fight this guy.' He never let up."

In particular, Bushofsky was impressed by Smith's willingness to go inside and block.

"He wasn't going to take a back seat to anybody," he said.

McCoy laughed.

"Steve was one that believed he should get the ball on every play," he said. "And he probably was right."

Beane agreed.

"He always operated with that attitude of people are trying to take my job and take money from my family," he said. "That drove him from day one until the day he walked out with Baltimore."

Making a name and never settling

Smith was warming up for the 2001 opener in Minnesota when he looked into a camera and said, "They don't know who Steve Smith is. By the end of the day, you're going to know who he is. I promise you that."

It didn't even take that long. Smith returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown to spark a 24-13 victory. That turned out to be Carolina's only win that season.

But because Seifert still looked at Smith more as a returner, he wasn't a big part of the offensive game plan. Smith caught only 10 passes for 154 yards and no touchdowns for a 1-15 team.

It wasn't until his third season, his second under coach John Fox, that Smith emerged as a receiver. He caught 88 passes for 1,110 yards and seven touchdowns in a season that ended with Carolina losing to New England in the Super Bowl.

That's when other teams started to realize they may have made a mistake.

"When I talk about him coming in as an angry man, it was more about a chip on his shoulder and being able to prove everybody wrong," Muhammad said.

Smith carried that chip until the end of his career, which ended with the Baltimore Ravens in 2016 after being cut by Carolina in 2013.

"Players were literally scared of him," former Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme said.

Former Utah teammate and long-time Panthers teammate Jordan Gross, selected with the eighth pick in 2003, agreed.

"Steve just played pissed off," Carolina's long-time left tackle said. "In college, Steve literally got into fistfights with teammates. Every day, almost. ... The same things that got him in trouble, whether it was punching a teammate or whatever, were the same traits that made him a Hall of Fame receiver."

But pairing Smith with Delhomme, who arrived in Carolina in 2003, was when Smith really proved doubters wrong -- particularly in the playoffs their first season together.

The two connected 18 times for 404 yards and three touchdowns, including a game-winning 69-yarder on the first play of the second overtime against the "Greatest Show on Turf"St. Louis Rams.

"I never ever played with someone as talented," Delhomme said. "He was a special player. He was a different cat. I don't think he's a candidate for the Hall of Fame. He's a Hall of Famer." McCoy, Graves and Bushofsky saw that potential on draft night in 2001.

"His personality was of a person that is not going to settle for second best," Bushofsky said. "That's why he is in the position he is."