The Cleveland Browns, as many fans know, were re-established in 1999. It took until their fourth season back in the league for them to make the playoffs, winning nine games and earning a spot in the Wild Card round.
This 2002 season was the last of a two-year stint with the team for Mark Smith, who joined the roster in 2001. Smith had previously spent four years with the Arizona Cardinals, putting up nine sacks in 1998 and helping the Cardinals make it to the second round of the playoffs.
While Smith’s time with the Browns might have been brief, he left an impact on the team, as he was a part of this rebuild and helped the Browns get back into the fold as an organization.
Unfortunately, Smith recently passed away, as Ernest Bowker reported via the Vicksburg Post.
“Mark Smith, a Vicksburg native who played six seasons in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns, has died. He was 51,” Ernest Bowker wrote.
Bowker talked about Smith’s legacy in the Vicksburg area, as he not only had a strong football career, but was also a key piece of their basketball team. He later played for Auburn for two seasons and was eventually taken in the seventh round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the Cardinals.
Seventh-round players don’t often make NFL rosters, let alone have careers spanning six seasons. Smith defied the odds by doing that alone, and he was also able to leave his mark on two different organizations.
It has been nearly 30 years since the Browns re-entered the league, and they’ve only made the playoffs three times during that span, including the 2002 season that Smith was a part of. As fans remember Smith, they might also remember the rest of the 2002 roster, a team that helped shape the future of this organization. The team that fans know today might not be in place if it weren’t for Smith and his teammates paving the way for the Browns to get back in the fold.
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