Super Bowl 58, then free agency, then maybe the Jets for Donovan Smith?
Donovan Smith board a plane with the rest of his Kansas City teammates en route to Las Vegas for Super Bowl 58. Credit: AP/Reed Hoffmann
LAS VEGAS - When Donovan Smith came into the NFL in 2015, he set three goals.
The first was to play for a minimum of 10 years. He is in his ninth, so almost there.
The second was to win a Super Bowl. He did that three years ago with Tampa Bay and has a chance to do it again Sunday as the starting left tackle for Kansas City.
And the third?
“Play for my favorite childhood team,” he told Newsday on Thursday. “The New York Jets.”
Growing up in Hempstead, Smith was never able to attend Jets training camps at Hofstra, but he was well aware of their presence and a huge fan. It also helped that their best lineman, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, also was from Long Island, a native of nearby Freeport. He also admired Curtis Martin.
“That was what I saw, and what I knew,” he said of the Jets. “Playing for them was, I guess you could say, one of my dreams.”
Is it still?
“Absolutely.”
In a few weeks the football stars may align to grant that wish. Smith, who signed a one-year deal with Kansas City in the spring, is due to become a free agent. The Jets are going to be in the market for improvements along their offensive line, and at tackle in particular.
The Jets touched base with Smith when he was released from the Bucs last year, but there were no real conversations about him coming home. This time, Smith expects that to change. And even though his focus is on beating the 49ers on Sunday in Super Bowl LVIII, he’s starting to peek at what lies beyond that game.
“It’ll be who has the best offer for me and what’s the best fit for me,” he said of free agency.
If Kansas City wins, Smith’s pitch to the Jets would be hard to beat. He’s already won a Super Bowl protecting Tom Brady. He may win one protecting Patrick Mahomes.
“Now let’s get Aaron Rodgers a ring,” he said.
That would fulfill more childhood dreams from Hempstead and the rest of Long Island than just his. But it might mean more to him than the others.
Said Smith of that possibility: “It would be my legacy.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
