Devin Smith walks in for his job interview, shakes the hands of whatever NFL team’s general manager and/or scouts are in the room, takes a seat and prepares for the questioning to come. He is confident because he can do the two things that NFL teams most need him to do — run fast and catch a football.
Still, there are few things more nerve-wracking than interviewing for your dream job, so there are some butterflies as the first question comes. It’s a doozy and probably trumps every question that is yet to come.
“Why should we draft you?”
What does Smith say at this point? At six feet even and 196 pounds, he’s not a big receiver but he’s big enough. He could point to his 31-inch arms and 9-inch hands that seem tailor-made to go up and snatch balls out of the air or his 39-inch vertical, which allows him to go up and get passes over defensive backs.
Or he could talk about his track speed, including the 4.4-range times in the 40 he posted at the NFL Combine, which was a bit slower than he expected or the time of which he’s capable.
But these are just his measurables. They don’t tell the story of who Devin Smith is, what he can do, and why any NFL team could really use a player like him.
“Why should we draft you?”
Smith could bring up the 33 receptions he had during the Buckeyes’ championship run for a team high 931 yards and 12 touchdowns. He might mention the way he stepped up in the three postseason games to help Ohio State win the first ever College Football Playoff. He could talk about being 11th on Ohio State’s all-time list for receptions (121), fifth in yards (2,503), fourth in average yards per catch (20.7) and second in touchdown catches (30).
Or he could talk about the clutch plays he made throughout his earlier career against the likes of Wisconsin (2011) or Michigan State (2012). He could point out the school record 90-yard touchdown reception against California.
Then there’s the track background and time as a high school basketball player at Massillon’s Washington High. Everyone loves a multi-sport star, after all.
“Why should we draft you?”
In the end, there’s really only one play here for Smith. All he needs to do is pull out his iPad and show his future employers this:
I think Devin gets the job.
