Some people will tell you NFL preseason games are little more than glorified practices.
Tanzel Smart does not have that luxury.
“It (the preseason) is important, real important,” Smart says.
Smart is a backup defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams, and Saturday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys at Aloha Stadium might well figure in whether he still has a job in pro football at the end of the month.
Smart is among 89 players in pursuit of the highly coveted 53 roster spots with the defending NFC champions. Which means, as one of 11 defensive linemen in camp, he has to put his best foot forward every day in practice and especially shine in each appearance of the four-game preseason.
In the regular season he plays — when he sees action, that is — in the considerable shadow of Aaron Donald, the two-time NFL defensive player of the year. Though they are Nos. 1 and 2 on the Rams’ unofficial depth chart at defensive tackle at the moment, their separation can be measured in light-years.
Donald, whose six-year, $135 million ($87 million guaranteed) contract last year made him the highest-paid defensive lineman in the NFL, is so valuable that he may not play a down this preseason. For him, Saturday’s exertions could be confined to pregame stretching, some sideline cheerleading and, maybe, signing autographs.
Meanwhile, Smart, who may play most of the first half against the Cowboys, has to compete in the allotted time as if his career depends upon it. Because it just might. That and the $645,000 salary he will receive this season, if he makes the team. If he doesn’t, he gets nothing, according to Spotrac.
There are several other players eyeing the same spot, at least two of whom could come with cheaper base salaries.
A sixth-round draft pick and the overall 189th selection out of Tulane in 2017, Smart seized the opportunity his rookie year. When Donald became a training camp holdout, Smart demonstrated his wares. It earned him a roster spot and appearances in 16 games, four of which he started.
But last year Smart spent all but two games on the inactive list and did not see the field in the postseason. Now, more than ever, he is a man on a mission to earn a more prominent place in the defensive line rotation.
But first he has to make the team. Which involves showcasing both his consistency and versatility in the Rams’ 3-4 defensive alignment. “Anything I can work on and do for the team, whatever they need,” Smart said. “Just (be in a position) to help the team as much as I can.”
As an elementary school student growing up in Baton Rouge, La., Smart said he would stop at his grandmother’s house in the morning for breakfast and to watch NFL highlights on the way to school. It was those glimpses of pro football, he says, that inspired him. “It looked exciting,” he recalls.
When he flashes back to those days, Smart said, it is, “On how far I’ve come from Baton Rouge. A lot of guys don’t make it to this position. I was blessed.”
And he wants to stay there, which means proving himself all over again for the next three Saturdays. “The preseason is always important for the coaches to evaluate guys like me and my teammates,” Smart said. “It is real important.”
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
