Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ rookie operating again E.J. Smith had imagined the second earlier than. However when he lastly got here down the hill at Missouri Western State College and onto the Chiefs’ coaching camp follow fields, the journey required to get there made the second imply one thing extra.
“It was a dream come true,” Smith stated Monday following follow. “It was a long road to get here, but I’m very grateful for the opportunity. Just through all the obstacles that made me become the person who I am today in order to prepare me for this opportunity.”
Smith is aware of higher than most what an uncomplicated path to the NFL can seem like.
His father, Emmitt Smith, starred at Florida, the place he rushed for greater than 1,300 yards as a freshman and went on to a dominant three-year school profession totaling 3,928 dashing yards. He earned All-American honors and SEC Participant of the Yr earlier than the Dallas Cowboys chosen him with the seventeenth general decide of the 1990 NFL Draft.
The remaining grew to become NFL historical past: three Tremendous Bowl championships, a league MVP award, eight Professional Bowls, the NFL’s all-time dashing document and finally a gold jacket in Canton.
E.J.‘s road to an NFL training camp looked nothing like it.
“Y’all know who my dad is,” Smith stated. “He was a first-rounder. I’m an undrafted guy, so my path is already different from his.”
Dallas Cowboys RB Emmitt Smith operating throughout a recreation November 23, 1995 towards the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. (Picture by Sporting Information through Getty Photographs/Sporting Information through Getty Photographs through Getty Photographs) Sporting Information through Getty Photographs
E.J. grew up with one of the crucial recognizable surnames a operating again may carry. His father didn’t merely play the identical place — he grew to become the usual by which generations of operating backs have been measured.
However Emmitt’s message to his son wasn’t to comply with him. It was to search out his personal approach.
“Just as a kid, my dad always told me, you know, build my own legacy,” E.J. recalled. “It’s my life, and so making the best out of it.”
That philosophy would change into more and more necessary as E.J.‘s football career unfolded.
His college journey stretched across six seasons, beginning at Stanford before finishing at Texas A&M. Instead of the steady climb toward the NFL that his father experienced, E.J.‘s career repeatedly stopped and restarted.
Smith said Monday that he endured approximately four injuries during his college career.
One of the most significant came at Stanford in 2022, just as it appeared he was beginning to emerge. Smith opened the season with a career-high 118 rushing yards against Colgate and had 206 rushing yards and three touchdowns through Stanford’s first two video games.
Then his season was over.
Somewhat than view these setbacks as one thing that derailed his path, Smith now sees them as a part of what made reaching Kansas Metropolis doable.
“I wouldn’t say it changed it,” Smith stated when requested how the accidents affected his NFL journey. “I feel like it molded the person who I am today.
“I went through about four injuries throughout my whole college career. And so it just made me show more perseverance, made me more resilient, and it prepared me for this moment, for this opportunity.”
That chance was by no means assured.
Smith completed his school profession at Texas A&M with out the résumé that after made his father a first-round choice. When the 2026 NFL Draft ended, Smith’s title had not been known as.
His father’s NFL journey started with the Cowboys buying and selling into the primary spherical to pick out him.
His started with a cellphone name after the draft. On the opposite finish was a well-known voice.
Chiefs operating backs coach DeMarco Murray had recruited Smith popping out of highschool. Years later, Murray was providing him a chance to proceed his profession in Kansas Metropolis.
“Coach DeMarco called me right after the draft,” Smith recalled. “It was awesome to hear him. He recruited me out of high school, and so just hearing his voice, talking to him, knowing that he’s going to be my running back coach, I was really excited for the opportunity.”
The Chiefs formally record Smith as an undrafted rookie coming into his first NFL season.
That designation would possibly signify one other stark distinction along with his father’s journey, nevertheless it additionally locations E.J. precisely the place his father’s recommendation ready him to be: constructing one thing of his personal.
For Smith, making an NFL roster now requires embracing greater than carrying the soccer.
As an undrafted rookie, each follow rep issues. So does each special-teams task, block and alternative to display that he can contribute someplace.
Smith believes versatility and energy can separate him.
“They love hard workers here,” he stated. “Guys that grind, hustle every play, show great effort. And so I believe that I’m that guy. Wherever they need me to be utilized, I’m there and I’m ready for it.”
“A lot of people didn’t think I would be here today,” Smith continued. “Just through the amount of injuries I went through in college and everything of that nature. And so just being out here, being able to practice with these guys and getting better every day, it’s a blessing for sure.”
E.J. Smith isn’t making an attempt to recreate his father’s highway. He couldn’t if he wished to.
One arrived as a first-round decide with expectations of changing into a franchise operating again. The opposite arrived undrafted, combating for each rep and trying to find any function that might maintain his NFL alternative alive.
Two operating backs. One household.
Two very completely different roads to the NFL.
And after every thing it took E.J. Smith to succeed in the underside of that hill in St. Joe, he’s lastly getting the prospect to construct the legacy his father all the time informed him must be his personal.
