Steve Smith almost considered retirement.

[SnarkAttack]

Can you imagine hearing our horrible Fox announcers saying "and there's another touchdown from Cam Newton to Steve Smith" QUOTE]

You mean "There's another touchdown from Cam Newton to Stephen Smith. This team would be a real force if they still had Julian Peters around."

[SnarkAttack]

Can you imagine hearing our horrible Fox announcers saying "and there's another touchdown from Cam Newton to Steve Smith"

You mean "There's another touchdown from Cam Newton to Stephen Smith. This team would be a real force if they still had Julian Peters around."?

[CRA]

You mean "There's another touchdown from Cam Newton to Stephen Smith. This team would be a real force if they still had Julian Peters around."?

Stephen Smith with be lucky to get chances b/c Rosario Dawson is gonna look like Antonio Gates out there.....

[weymouthst]

A kid asked Cam Newton if he's better than Jake Delhomme. Newton laughed and said, "Time will tell."

Perfect answer.

[PantherBrew]

They thought she had Lupus, but seems like she is fine now. Here's the link http://reederstake.freedomblogging.com/2011/06/17/panthers-wr-steve-smith-said-he-briefly-considered-retirement/9325/

[Montsta]

I could actually overlook how horrible Dick Stockton is if I heard him say "Touchdown pass from Cameron Newton to Stephen Smith!" "That Jonathan Beason is the leader of this defense." Chode.

[jayflip]

Or Torry Holt could talk about how when Peyton Hillis was a little boy...

[TruCatzFan]

I swear that they intentionally give U's the worst commentators in all of sports. Usually me and my boy just mute their sorry asses and call the games ourselves... It's usually pretty fun once we get drunk!

[Rhys]

“I want to be competitive and have fun,” Smith said. “Winning isn’t everything but losing isn’t much fun. I feel like I didn’t play well statistically, so a lot of people are saying I’m a mid-age receiver whose skills are diminishing and losing a step. We’ll see. We’ll see how many 24-year-old can cover a 32-year-old 4.3-running receiver who wasn’t supposed to be (in the league) anyway.”

I know for sure that the huddle has many people in the ,"Steve Smith has lost a step", "Trade him" camp.

I'd love 89 to make everyone who's said that look like a jack-ass this coming season.

The man says he can still run a 4.3 40. Wherever he ends up, i'll be watching, and rooting for him.

[therealmjl]

I was getting more and more convinced Smitty was going to stay until I read this quote from today..

"@mikecranston1: 89 "When we decide what we're going to do, whether people like it or not, as long as my family is happy, I would hope they would understand"

Who knows what 89 will do. I like the bond that he and Cam are developing, though.

[neverlosethefeeling]

^^ yeah that quote is discouraging, but optimistically I look at the statement that he "briefly considered retirement" as an explanation for so many things. Maybe he cleaned out his locker and suite at the end of the season because he was thinking of calling it quits then. The Reed article says she got sick early in the year, and they didn't find out until last week that she didn't have Lupus. And maybe that's why Rivera said that he left their talk wondering sometimes what Steve really wanted to do, play football or retire.

IDK, maybe I want him to stay too much, maybe I'm too high. Either way it sounds good to me

[Cat'sGrowl]

I wonder what Rosario Dawson has to say about all this.

[mav1234]

My take is Smitty does want out, but won't make a stink if the Panthers can't get value for him. He has probably let the higher ups know it'd be his preference if he could play for a competitor right away, but he is also aware that the team isn't about to let their best receiver go for nothing.

I suspect that if a team feels they are "one receiver away" from competing for a championship, we may see him moved. My general feeling here is that if he is moved, it'll likely be to a good team (where we can hopefully see him win) who will give us a good deal (so we can hopefully get some more value in the draft), which is good... and if he isn't moved, hopefully we'll all be surprised at the growth of the offense, Smitty included, and we'll get to see him stick around as a Panther for a bit more time :)

[Vagrant]

The thread title is still wrong, by the way. You can't "almost consider", anything. You either consider it or you don't consider it. By the looks of it, Smith considered retirement but then thought better of doing it.

The act of consideration is a thought. You can't almost think. /logicnazi