Although his comeback efforts last season with the Dallas Cowboys seemed to find “firmer footing” than in past attempts, troubled former University of Missouri standout Aldon Smith again finds himself looking to latch onto an NFL team.
On Wednesday, Smith was released by the Seattle Seahawks, who then signed linebacker Lakiem Williams in a corresponding move.
In the spring of 2020, the National Football League reinstated Smith, who had missed four seasons with off-the-field troubles. In 16 games for Dallas last season, Smith had five sacks and 48 tackles. In April 2021, he signed a one-year contract in Seattle, but found more trouble soon after, with an arrest in suburban New Orleans on second-degree battery charges.
A first-round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2011, Smith quickly became an unstoppable force from the “rush linebacker” position, recording 33 1/2 sacks in his first two seasons. That early momentum was halted quickly, as a series of arrests ranging from drunk driving to domestic violence derailed his time in the Bay Area.
Photo credit – Lpdrew / Wikimedia Commons / New Orleans, LA
