Lee Smith

Joseph "Lee" Smith (born November 21, 1987) is a former American football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders and Atlanta Falcons. He played college football at Marshall University, and was drafted by the Patriots in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. In late January 2022 he announced he would retire from the NFL. College career Smith originally committed and enrolled at the University of Tennessee, where his father Daryle played. However, after being charged with DUI on campus, he was immediately dismissed by head coach Phillip Fulmer. Smith would then enroll at Marshall University. Smith shared playing time with tight end, Cody Slate, throughout most of his first three seasons at Marshall. As a full-time starter in 2010, Smith finished the year with career highs in receiving yards, receptions, and touchdowns. He also was named to the Conference USA All-Academic team and invited to the Senior Bowl. Professional career On January 21, 2011, it was announced that Smith had been invited to the 2011 Senior Bowl. Although he was a late invitee, Smith accepted his invitation a week later. He was a part of the Cincinnati Bengals' head coach Marvin Lewis' North team that lost to the South 24–10. Smith was one of 16 tight ends who received an invitation to perform at the NFL Combine. He performed all of the required positional and combine drills and tied Wisconsin's Lance Kendricks for second among tight ends in the bench press. Smith also finished last of the 16 tight ends in the 40-yard dash. On March 17, 2011, Smith opted to participate at Marshall's pro day, along with Martez Wilson, Mario Harvey, and five others. He chose to run his 40-yard dash (4.99), 20-yard dash (2.89), 10-yard dash (1.72), and positional drills for the team representatives and scouts from ten NFL teams. Smith was projected to be a sixth or seventh round by the majority of NFL draft experts and analysts. He was ranked as the tenth best tight end prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.