“Probably about midseason,” G.M. Ryan Pace said, when he was asked when Smith first surfaced on the Bears’ radar. “Our scouts had been pounding the table for this guy for a long time. I remember (director of college scouting) Mark Sadowski, during the season talking about him then. His name’s come up a ton, and then, once you meet him, it just kind of cements it for you. He’s just a special person and a special player.”
Pace said it’s easy to see what Smith is as a player. He doesn’t flash with a few highlight plays and then disappear for long stretches.