Carolina Panthers WR Steve Smith Wants to Play for Ravens or Chargers

Tom Sorensen of the Charlotte Observer is reporting that veteran wide receiver Steve Smith has requested a trade away from the Carolina Panthers, the team that drafted him in the third round back in 2001. Smith has spent his entire career with the Panthers, but is apparently ready to move on, because at 32 years old, he might not have much more time to win a Super Bowl.

“I don’t know if Steve Smith will be a Carolina Panther next season. I do know that he went to the house of Panthers owner Jerry Richardson late last season and asked to be traded. Multiple sources confirm it.

A Panther since he was drafted in 2001, Smith was entitled to ask for a trade. A source – singular this time – says his teams of choice are San Diego and Baltimore.”

Sorensen also calls Smith–not former All Pro Julius Peppers–the best player in Carolina Panthers history, and feel like a third round pick would be “insufficient” for Smith’s services. So what would it take to pry Smith away from the team that drafted him? A third round pick sounds like it would do the trick, especially for a team that was pretty much dying for draft picks this past year, a team in a complete re-building phase.

At the same time, I find it hard to believe that the Panthers would let go of their clear-cut best receiver for merely a third round pick when their next best receiver right now is Brandon LaFell. The Panthers actually really need Smith, and it’s not like they are going to give him a free pass here because he has been so valuable to the team over the years.

If Smith is going to be traded, the Panthers will get a good deal in return. Curious that the teams they are talking to typically either don’t trade draft picks like they are discussing, or they usually don’t do it (Patriots) unless the price is very low and the player is on the cheap heap.

The only team on Smith’s list that really couldn’t afford to give up a second round pick might be the San Diego Chargers, who seem to be a team on the decline ever since they let go of LaDainian Tomlinson last year. They now risk losing Vincent Jackson, Eric Weddle, and some of their other key players.

Baltimore and New England make the most sense, especially with New England having a boat-load of draft picks every single year. The Ravens would be interesting, mainly because they just picked up Tandon Doss and Torrey Smith in this past year’s NFL Draft.

It should be an interesting offseason for Steve Smith, but right now my money is on him staying with the Panthers.