The ceremonial season has begun for Emmitt Smith. He hopes it is not also a farewell tour.
Only 540 yards from breaking Walter Payton’s NFL rushing record, the Dallas Cowboys running back needs a blocking back to fend off interview requests.
With their training camp at the Alamodome the subject of the HBO series “Hard Knocks,” cameras follow Smith and teammates everywhere.
“They put a camera in your mouth when you’re eating,” Smith said.
The rushing mark may be the closest football can get to baseball’s home run record, and the Cowboys are gearing up for a celebration worthy of “America’s Team.”
Already Smith has traveled to Chicago to accept a “Spirit of Sweetness” award from Payton’s widow, Connie, who called attention to Smith’s off-field contributions at a fundraiser for the Payton Cancer Fund last month in Aurora.
In turn, the Cowboys plan to invite Connie, son Jarrett and daughter Brittney to festivities whenever Smith surpasses the 16,726 yards Payton collected for the Bears from 1975 to 1987.
Smith said he is happy to be nearing the record in 13 seasons, the same number Payton had, although it likely will take Smith more than Payton’s 190 games. Smith has played in 185 and would have to average 108 yards for the first five games to match Payton. Smith hasn’t averaged 100 yards a game since 1995.
Signs abound that his 13th season could be Smith’s last in Dallas, but that isn’t part of the celebratory mood, nor is it mentioned in polite conversation.
“I can see 20,000 yards coming,” Smith said. “This is not the light at the end of the tunnel. Some want to make it the end of this year, but I don’t see that happening.”
To get to 20,000, Smith would need to play for most of his Dallas contract that goes through 2005. But that is unrealistic with his salary-cap number already an astronomical $10 million this year. At 33, Smith is two months older than Payton was entering his final season, so the Cowboys are heralding younger, faster, bigger Troy Hambrick as the heir apparent, promising he will share this year’s load.
Smith can’t quite figure out the hurry to run him off.
“I wish I knew the answer to that,” he said. “Maybe it’s because of salary-cap reasons or whatever. You’ve got to have a replacement at some point in time. I guess they’re looking to push it as soon as they can.
“But for me, if I’m still doing my job effectively, then I am. If the Cowboys choose to let me go, that’s their decision, but I’m not going to focus on that. I have to perform. To me it’s all about performance. Others, it may be about age, it may be about money, but it’s about performance for me.”
In an era when few athletes play in one city their entire career–not even Michael Jordan or Jerry Rice–Smith wants to be an exception.
“I don’t want to see myself playing for someone else, but it’s not my choice right now because the Cowboys have all the rights they need,” he said. “If they chose to keep me, they keep me. If they choose to let me go, they let me go, so after that I’d have to see what the situation is.
“I do want to be a Cowboy all my life. I don’t want to leave this place. I mean, I’m playing for one of the best organizations the NFL has to offer. I can’t imagine too many other organizations as great as this one. I love my owners. I love my teammates, the people and relationships I’ve established. Why would I want to trade this in for something else?”
Payton broke Jim Brown’s record 12,312 yards in 1984, his 10th season, still in his prime. His fourth-best season was still to come in 1985. None of Smith’s last six seasons has matched his previous five, when he won four rushing titles and the Cowboys won three Super Bowls.
“Certainly we all know you could get very analytical about Emmitt as a running back and his contribution at this stage of his career and be criticized for paying him that kind of money,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
“If everybody put on their management shoes, you could get critical.”
But Jones argues that Smith’s $10 million cap hit did not prevent the Cowboys from doing “everything we wanted to do” in signing free agents such as La’Roi Glover, Kevin Hardy and Bryant Westbrook and outbidding the Bears, among others, for quarterback prospect Chad Hutchinson.
“Had this been last year, this might have been a tough thing because we were just automatically having to reduce our cap,” Jones said.
“If you weigh everything, there is an element of what he’s done in the past that makes it a very prudent thing to do for our franchise to pay him and honor his contract.
“I’m glad we can afford to do that.”
Aware that $10 million would pay for four front-line players, Jones knows that as his Cowboys continue to rebuild, money must be allocated differently. But this year? “I didn’t have to sit down and say, `Is Emmitt worth four players?'” Jones said.
“If you weigh everything it means to the franchise, to NFL football, and for Emmitt having a chance to be like Walter, you respect that.”
Next year? Said Jones: “Like Scarlett O’Hara in `Gone With the Wind,’ I’m going to worry about that later.”
Year by year
Walter Payton rushed for 16,726 yards in his 13-year career from 1975-87. Entering his 13th season, Emmitt Smith has gained 16,187 yards. A year-by-year look at each’s carries and yards gained:
YR PAYTON SMITH
1 679 937
2 1,390 1,563
3 1,852 1,713
4 1,395 1,486
5 1,610 1,484
6 1,460 1,773
7 1,222 1,204
8 596 1,074
9 1,421 1,332
10 1,684 1,397
11 1,551 1,203
12 1,333 1,021
13 533
Career leaders
PLAYER YARDS
1. W. Payton 16,726
2. Emmitt Smith 16,187
3. Barry Sanders 15,269
4. E. Dickerson 13,259
5. Tony Dorsett 12,739
Smith’s statistics
YEAR G ATT YDS AVG LG TD
1990 16 241 937 3.9 48 11
1991 16 365 1,563 4.3 75 12
1992 16 373 1,713 4.6 68 18
1993 14 283 1,486 5.3 62 9
1994 15 368 1,484 4.0 46 21
1995 16 377 1,773 4.7 60 25
1996 15 327 1,204 3.7 42 12
1997 16 261 1,074 4.1 44 4
1998 16 319 1,332 4.2 32 13
1999 15 329 1,397 4.2 63 11
2000 16 294 1,203 4.1 52 9
2001 14 261 1,021 3.9 44 3
TOT. 185 3,798 16,187 4.3 75 148
YEAR REC YDS AVG LG TD FUM
1990 24 228 9.5 57 0 7
1991 49 258 5.3 14 1 8
1992 59 335 5.7 26 1 4
1993 57 414 7.3 86 1 4
1994 50 341 6.8 68 1 1
1995 62 375 6.0 40 0 7
1996 47 249 5.3 21 3 5
1997 40 234 5.8 24 0 1
1998 27 175 6.5 24 2 3
1999 27 119 4.4 14 2 5
2000 11 79 7.2 19 0 6
2001 17 116 6.8 22 0 1
TOT. 470 2,923 6.2 86 11 52
PLAYOFF STATISTICS
YEAR ATT YDS AVG LG TD
1991 41 185 4.5 19 1
1992 71 336 4.7 38 3
1993 66 280 4.2 15 3
1994 27 118 4.4 14 3
1995 74 298 4.0 25 6
1996 39 196 5.0 37 2
1998 16 74 4.6 32 0
1999 15 99 6.6 65 1
TOT. 349 1,586 4.5 65 19
