JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Running back Emmitt Smith is expected to announce
his retirement Thursday, according to several media reports.
Smith, a free agent, will make the announcement three days before the Super
Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., according to Tuesday reports by ESPN.com, The
Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram.
ESPN.com cited "confidants" of the star running back that it did not
identify; the newspaper reports, posted on the papers' Web sites Tuesday, cited
unidentified sources.
Contacted by the Morning News, Smith, 35, said: "Did you see my year last
year? Do you think I'm ready to retire?"
Smith rushed for 937 yards and nine touchdowns this season for Arizona, his
second year with the Cardinals. Smith played 13 years with the Dallas Cowboys,
the team with which he won three Super Bowls.
He said Monday that he wanted to retire as a member of the Cowboys.
Smith, the league's most valuable player in 1993, holds the career rushing
touchdown record with 115. He has 18,355 yards 164 TDs overall.
Neither the Cardinals nor Cowboys had any announcements planned regarding
Smith.
Former Cowboys safety Darren Woodson told the Morning News that Smith had
been thinking of retirement for weeks.
"I've known about it for a while," Woodson told the Star-Telegram. "I
didn't know it was out yet."
Asked about Smith possibly retiring, former teammate Troy Aikman said: "I
hate to speculate on it. At some point it will end, maybe this year or the
next. Emmitt's had a terrific career. I'm sure the last two years have been
difficult for Emmitt in Arizona.
"One thing in this game, when you play on a team that has been together for
as long as we were in Dallas, and then you lose guys, it takes a toll."
Smith was lauded by several players in this year's Super Bowl as a role
model, a man who conducted himself the right way on and off the field.
"It would be a great loss for the league," New England running back Corey
Dillon said. "I'm going to miss him. I looked up to him, watching him win
Super Bowls."
Added Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson: "He's such a low-key, classy
individual. And what he's been able to achieve hasn't been given just due. He's
such an ambassador of the game. Football's been good to him, and I hope he
reciprocates it by staying close to the game. I hope he doesn't completely walk
away; I hope he doesn't fade away."