Defensive Tackle · Las Vegas Raiders

Gary Smith

No. 75 · Rookie

No draft call, no problem — the Raiders found their guy anyway

The phone didn't ring on draft weekend. For Gary Smith, that was the beginning, not the end.

Smith spent five college seasons earning his spot the hard way — two years at Duke, then a move to UCLA, where he eventually started every single game of his final season. A 319-pound defensive tackle who held down the middle of an offense's worst nightmare, he closed out his college career with an honorable mention from the Big Ten. Not flashy. Just consistent, game in and game out.

When the draft came and went without his name, the Las Vegas Raiders came calling as an undrafted free agent signing. That's a quieter entrance than most players dream of, but it's still a foot in the door of the NFL.

The undrafted path is narrow. Roster spots are scarce, and nobody hands them out for what you did in college. But Smith has already shown he can move from program to program, situation to situation, and keep starting. That's a useful thing to know about someone walking into a training camp with something to prove.

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