Six years after the Panthers released Steve Smith, he tells his side of the story

Steve Smith Sr. wanted to fully share his side of the things.

When the former Panthers great was released by the team prior to the 2014 season, there was doubt about the quality of his relationship with quarterback Cam Newton, who was drafted first overall in 2011, and with then-general manager Dave Gettleman.

Smith has started a new podcast called “Cut To It.” In an episode released Friday morning, Smith took the time to explain from his perspective and clear the air on how the release from Carolina took place and how it all had to do with Gettleman, not Newton.

He hosts the podcast with his friend Gerard Littlejohn, who is also the executive director of the Steve Smith Family Foundation, which works to help those in need related to family health and wellness and domestic violence awareness and prevention.

The whole podcast is worth a listen for any Panthers fan as Smith gives a full look at the end of his career in Carolina from his perspective.

Here are a few notable highlights:

Why he’s speaking out now:

“The reason I’m talking about it now is one, I don’t like the fact that everybody says that I was let go to let Cam grow. I was let go, because I didn’t really care about what the rules of the Carolina Panthers were because the person who was setting the rules was Dave Gettleman. I respect him as a man, because God calls me to because he’s my elder, but I didn’t respect how he went about his business.

“... (Gettleman) tried to bully a bully. That ain’t gonna work well. Well, I understand you’re the biggest mule or you’re biggest bull in in the ring. I ain’t the biggest bull, but I believe I can go... it wasn’t a very good relationship and so I was like man, I’m done, I want to be out.... I wasn’t done with Cam. I was just done with the process of the individual that was running the team. And eventually everybody has seen now that individual, it was consistent.”

On being a teammate of Steve Smith:

“I guess the pros and cons of being a teammate of Steve Smith is this. The pro is I’m gonna work my butt off every single day. The con is, man, I wear my emotions on my sleeve and on the practice field, so if we had a bad week, that week, and we didn’t perform well, I’m on everybody. I’m expecting everybody to practice as hard as me. And if we don’t, it’s gonna be a problem, right?

“I think it’s a negative, because not everybody, I mean, I got four kids and not all of my four kids have the same work ethic as each other. They all vary. And it all depends on how are they motivated. So at times, I rubbed, I brushed up against teammates the wrong way and and there’s some teammates brushed up against me the wrong way. That’s called a job right.”

After the Panthers’ 1-3 start in 2013, Smith expressed to his agent that he would like a trade. Smith reveals that a trade was discussed with an east coast team and the 49ers midseason. The Niners were coming off a loss in Super Bowl XLVII to the Ravens.

“I tell my agent, I’m like, ‘man, I’m done with this dog. I want out. So my agent actually, a team on the East Coast, talked to several teams, but there was a specific team that I’m not gonna name, that was right there in the mix and said, ‘look, if Steve wants out, we’d love to have him. So I was Under Armour at the time and I go to Under Armour and I tell them, this is the team I’m going with, flip my color scheme for my shoes. Get ready. We out.”

“... So Dave goes to Mr. (Jerry) Richardson (former Panthers team owner) and says, ‘Steve wants out blah, blah, blah.’ They say, ‘man, let him out. I’m tired of this. Let him go.’ I was like I’m good. Well, they go and talk to a team, not the team that we already had worked a deal with behind closed doors. They gave me permission to talk to the San Francisco 49ers. So I talked to the GM. At the time it was Trent Balke. So Dave Gettleman says, ‘hey, we got you a trade, we need your permission to talk to the 49ers and when we talked to the 49ers, here’s what you want. Now the other team that I won’t name didn’t really go into it, because that team was only offering so much and the 49ers offered more. When I talked to Trent, Trent says, he’s like, ‘hey, we want you, you’re our missing piece to win the Super Bowl.”

Smith’s wife was pregnant with their son at the time and he shares that he didn’t really want to go to San Francisco as the team wanted him to void out his contract, something he was not willing to do.

Smith had received a contract extension from Hurney after the league’s lockout during a period when the team took care of many long-term players with lucrative deals. When Gettleman took over as general manager, he restructured many contracts.

Gettleman then made comments at the Combine in 2014 that year that referred to Smith’s time with the Panthers in past tense.

“Steve’s had a great career. He really has,” Gettleman said at the time. “None of us are here forever. But that’s not to say — he’s part of the evaluation process. That’s just the way it is.”

The Panthers tried to trade Smith, but no teams wanted to take on his contract. Gettleman told Smith and his agent they wouldn’t release him until June 1, keeping him “hostage.”

“It became this thing where, it was basically, it was a pissing contest between me and Dave,” Smith said. “And here’s the unfortunate part: Cam was caught in the middle. And a part of why Cam was caught the middle is because — Cam didn’t do anything I don’t hate Cam. I love the dude, he’s a fantastic player. Now I probably, I’ll say it now, I probably need to apologize because I was probably a dick, but I mean, that’s just, that’s who I was. I expected excellence and I wanted to practice hard.”

Smith, now an NFL Network analyst, said Newton wrote him a “really good” letter when he was released that he just recently found and opened.

Smith said in 2014, if he had stayed in Carolina, he likely would have retired. As he has said in the past, being inducted into the Panthers Hall of Honor last year was closure for him.

Listen to the full podcast here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-cut-to-it-featuring-steve-71209583/episode/steves-truth-72152958/?cmp=web_share&embed=true

This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Six years after the Panthers released Steve Smith, he tells his side of the story."