Jaguars concerned for Telvin Smith after police raid home
Questions surrounding former Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith continue to swirl in the wake of a police raid at 28-year-old’s home Wednesday and it has some of his old teammates expressing concern.
Defensive end Calais Campbell told media in Jacksonville that he hasn’t heard from Smith in a month. Neither team president Tom Coughlin nor head coach Doug Marrone had any information available on Smith’s status — though both confirmed they were aware of the raid.
Smith abruptly stepped away from football in May following a five-year stint with the Jags that saw him earn Pro Bowl honors in 2017 and record a career-high 134 tackles in 2018.
While there have been conflicting reports of whether or not Smith was arrested in the raid, News4Jax could not locate any arrests or criminal charges related to Smith as of Thursday.
Smith announced his decision to leave football via Instagram post in early May to “get my world in order,” prompting the team to place him on the Jaguars’ reserve/retired list in July. The linebacker filed retirement papers with the league the same month.
From Jaguars Telvin Smith’s Instagram account. I’m told it is in fact his account. It states he will not play football this season. pic.twitter.com/JXaroE0tOF
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) May 9, 2019
″I feel like there are a lot of rumors that’s stirring around that’s obviously not true,″ defensive end Dawuane Smoot told Jacksonville.com. ″He’s going through his own thing and I don’t know exactly what it is. But it might have been best for him to step away.″
While Campbell hadn’t spoken to Smith since October, he still considers Smith a friend and is seemingly waiting with the rest of the franchise to learn more about his former teammate’s situation.
″Until all the facts come out, I’m definitely not going to speak on what he’s going through,” Campbell said. “He’s going to be a guy that I’m going to be friends with for the rest of my life. That’s what this game is about, you develop bonds with people. Everybody comes from different backgrounds, different personalities and different people.″
Police in Jacksonville have yet to provide any information to local media. The Jaguars currently have no expectations of Smith returning to the team at any point.
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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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