Carolina Panthers legend Steve Smith Sr. is an icon because of what he did on the field. What he did in the locker room was pretty great, too, though. CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones illustrated this with a story of how the All-Pro wide receiver once went to extreme lengths to prank him as a young beat reporter.
Jones is now a Senior NFL reporter and insider at CBS Sports, but before starting his current job he was a Panthers beat writer for the Charlotte Observer. It was in that position that he fell victim to a savage (but well-deserved?) prank from Smith, as Jones told Kevin Clark on his This is Football podcast.
On the episode, Jones recalled a week in “2013 or 14” when Smith “goes off on the officials after the game, and it’s one of those goes off so much that you know he’s going to get fined.”
So, during the ensuing week, Jones repeatedly asks Smith if he’s heard from the league year about a fine. The Panthers WR repeatedly blows Jones off until Thursday, when he invites the reporter over to his locker and shows him a FedEx envelope.
“He shows [the envelope] to me, and it appears that it is from the NFL, 345 Park Avenue,” Jones recalls. “And he starts to open it up, and here I am a younger bat reporter, and I think to myself, ‘Man, Steve’s about to open his fine letter from the NFL, and I’m the only one who can see it. I’m going to tape this, and we’re going to blog it!’ And he reaches inside the envelope and he pulls out a piece of paper on Panthers letterhead that says, ‘You are a dumba**.’”
“Steve Smith had mailed himself a letter to trick me because I constantly asked about him getting fined!” Jones laughed.
Steve Smith Sr. was obviously a Hall of Fame prankster during his NFL career, as Jonathan Jones found out the hard way. However, he is struggling to make the final cut for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At the end of 2023, Smith was a semifinalist for the honor for a third time but failed to make the cut as one of the 25 finalists for the Class of 2024.
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