Mike Smith doesn't do half speed.
As a seventh-round pick of the Ravens in 2005, the young middle linebacker from Texas Tech flew full tilt into a fullback in training camp just to get the legendary Ray Lewis to finally acknowledge him with a smile, a headbutt and the words, "Now, you're one of us, kid!"
As a 40-year-old, well-respected outside linebackers coach, Smith goes all out as mentor in the sciences of "rushing violently" and setting the edges on a 3-4 defense "as men who are born an oak and not a willow."
As a doting father of three kids who wanted a treehouse in Green Bay last summer, the former Packer-turned-Viking inadvertently hurtled his 240-some-pound self into Mother Earth. At the full speed of gravity. From about two stories up.
Wait. What?
"Fell 22 feet cutting the last board," said Smith, who, thankfully, still lives to tell his tale to a new wave of wincing faces.
Smith holds up his right wrist. A wrist that Danielle Hunter, a superstar Vikings edge rusher who knows his way around an injury or two, has seen and shaken his head.
"That thing," said Hunter, "is messed up."
Hunter shakes his head when asked if he'll be building a treehouse anytime soon.
"I shattered completely everything in there," Smith said. "The doctor said it was the worst wrist he ever worked on."
Smith also suffered a concussion. And he said his back "was all jacked up, so I had back surgery, too."
He laughs, puts the wrist back down and shrugs.
"Like my dad would say, 'It's a long way from my heart,'" he said. "So, I'm good."
The Vikings believe Smith is better than good at his job. Head coach Kevin O'Connell has admired Smith since their paths first crossed more than a decade ago with the Jets. O'Connell was a backup quarterback and Smith an assistant working under then defensive coordinator and current Vikings assistant head coach Mike Pettine.
O'Connell said he was surprised Smith was available to be hired in Minnesota because "he's one of the best in the league."
The Packers can't argue. They wanted Smith back for a fourth season under Matt LaFleur. Last year, outside linebackers Rashan Gary and Preston Smith each had nine-plus sack seasons, becoming the second linebacker duo in team history to do that. The first was Za'Darius Smith – now a Viking – and Preston Smith in 2019, Mike Smith's first year with the team.
So why, Mike, did you ask to be released from your contract in Green Bay – after three straight 13-win seasons, no less — to come to Minnesota, where the Vikings have been chasing Green Bay without much success for years?
"I'm so close to Mike Pettine," Smith said of his old position coach with the Ravens. "I don't have too many best friends in this world, but he's one of them."
Smith's coaching career began at the University of Hawaii in 2009. A year later, Pettine brought him to the Jets as an intern. In 2012, Smith was Pettine's outside linebackers coach.
Smith returned to Texas Tech as an assistant from 2013-15 and moved on to the Chiefs from 2016-18, coaching Dee Ford to a Pro Bowl in 2018.
Smith and Pettine were reunited in Green Bay in 2019 when LaFleur hired Pettine as defensive coordinator. Pettine was fired after two seasons. Smith wasn't too happy.
"Mike's a big part of my career going back to Baltimore," Smith said. "He got me into coaching and taught me a lot about football and loyalty, which is hard to find in this profession.
"So I just saw coming here as time for a change, without getting too deep into it."
Smith seems to have a way of preaching toughness without all the yelling and screaming that today's players tend to tune out.
"A big thing I learned from Ray was to just stay positive," Smith said. "My number was 51. Ray was 52. I had a locker right next to him. I idolized that guy. He'd say, 'We're going to make some mistakes. But that's how you get better.' Some coaches, when you make a mistake, they'll be yelling at you the whole time. But you got to make mistakes to realize what you're doing wrong, fix it and get the job done."
Kind of like building a treehouse, eh?
"I was down to my last cut, too," Smith said. "How about that? I was cutting the overhang off the roof. I didn't remember much after that for a while."
Smith said his wife, Emily, found him on the kitchen floor.
"It was about two weeks before I even realized where I was and what had happened," Smith said. "You could see where I was starting to make that last cut and … . But it got done."
