Smoot

Redskins minicamp

Date published: 6/18/2007

BY ADAM HIMMELSBACH

ASHBURN--The last time he was here, his smile was everlasting. Short of chiseling it off his face, there was no way to remove it.

And the last time he was here, his mouth was always chirping. Short of using a good piece of tape, there was no way to shut it.

But after the 2004 season, cornerback Fred Smoot left the Redskins and signed a free-agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings.

There, it did not take long for the smile to fade and the voice to become muffled.

"Mentally, I just wasn't in it," said Smoot, who re-signed with the Redskins in March after he was cut by the Vikings. "I hated the place I was. I just went into depression. Believe that, smiling Fred Smoot went into depression.

"But it happened, man. It happened."

In October of 2005, Smoot helped organize the Vikings' now infamous sex party on a boat on Lake Minnetonka. He ultimately pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors, resulting in a $1,000 fine and community service.

On the field, Smoot missed five games because of a broken collarbone. He finished the season with just one interception.

But perhaps the most trying time came last November, when Smoot's 20-year-old half-brother, Matthew Taylor, was killed in a car accident in Mississippi. The accident occurred the night before the Vikings' Nov. 5 game against the San Francisco 49ers, but Smoot did not find out until afterward.

Smoot said he was very close to Taylor. The two would often play football and basketball together, and Taylor made it to many of Smoot's games; first when he starred at Mississippi State, and then, when he made it to the NFL.

"After [the accident]," Smoot said, "my mind wasn't even on football."

He missed Minnesota's next game to attend the funeral and spend time with his family. He said that when he returned, he was no longer a starter.

Last December, Smoot broke his jaw in five places when the Rolls-Royce he was a passenger in crashed into a guardrail. He missed the final game of the regular season, and, ironically, his jaw was wired shut.

Date published: 6/18/2007