Ryan Smith

BIOGRAPHY

Ryan Smith was born on September 7, 1993, in Augsburg, Germany. He is a cornerback in the NFL. In his early years, Smith attended Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School where he started playing football. After graduating from high school, Smith committed to the University of North Carolina to play college football. As a redshirted freshman, Smith played in all 11 games starting 8 of them and ending his freshman year with as NCCU’s second-leading tackler with 65 total takedowns, second with three interceptions and third with eight passes defended. Smith was selected to the College Sports Journal Football Championship Subdivision Freshman All-America team. As a sophomore, he started all 12 games and ranked second on the Eagles and 19th in the MEAC with 88 total tackles with 51 solo tackles and he was also ranked number one on the team and ranked fourth in the MEAC with 3 fumble recoveries. As a junior, he started all 12 games making the switch from safety to cornerback where he tallied 58 total tackles and a team second-best 44 solo tackles and was voted to the Preseason All-MEAC Third Team. As a senior, Smith started in 10 of 11 games as a cornerback and ended the year ranking third in the MEAC with a team-best 11 passes defended, and a total of 52 tackles which were ranked second on the team with 38 solo tackles. Smith led the conference and ranked 10th in the nation with an average of 28.1 yards per kickoff return. 

After graduating from college, Smith entered the 2016 NFL Draft where he was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round. On May 5, 2016, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Smith to a four-year contract and was named the backup free safety to begin the regular season. On September 25, 2016, Smith made his professional regular-season debut against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3 and in Week 9 he recorded his only tackle of the season against the Atlanta Falcons.  He finished his rookie season with one tackle in 14 games and zero starts. In the 2017 season, Smith was moved to cornerback and was named as the third cornerback to begin the regular season. On September 24, 2017, Smith earned his first career start and finished the game with three solo tackles and one pass deflection against the Minnesota Vikings. In Week 9, he collected a season-high nine combined tackles against the New Orleans Saints and in Week 10 he was named as the starting cornerback for the remainder of the season. He finished the 2017 NFL season with 62 combined tackles with 51 solo tackles, five pass deflections, and two forced fumbles in 15 games and ten starts. In 2018, Smith was named as the fourth cornerback to begin the season. On November 25, 2018, Smith broke up a pass attempt and made his first career interception against the San Francisco 49ers and finished the season with 38 combined tackles with 31 solo tackles, five pass deflections, and one interception in 16 games and six starts.