Braden Smith (born March 25, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

Early years

A native of

Olathe, Kansas Olathe ( ) is the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 population of 141,290. History 19th century Olathe was ...

, Smith attended

Olathe South High School Olathe South High School is a public high school located in Olathe, Kansas, United States, serving students in grades 9-12. The school is one of five high schools in the Olathe USD 233 school district. Olathe South High School was recognized as a ...

, where he was a two-way lineman on the football varsity. Smith was credited with 82 pancake blocks on offense, 59 tackles on defense in his senior season. Regarded as a four-star recruit by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, Smith was ranked as the No. 9 offensive guard prospect in the class of 2014. He had offers from Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia and Notre Dame, and decided to commit to Auburn University on May 27, 2014.

College career

Smith played as a freshman playing in 12 games. In his sophomore season at Auburn, he played right guard and was named Second-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). Smith received

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honors in both 2016 and 2017 as well as received the

Jacobs Blocking Trophy The Jacobs Blocking Trophy is the name of several similar annual college football awards bestowed by a conference upon their best blocker. The awards are named in honor of William P. Jacobs, founder and president of Presbyterian College from 1935 t ...

for the best blocker in the SEC in 2017. He finished his collegiate career with 41 starts in four seasons.

Professional career

Smith was drafted by the

in the second round, 37th overall, of the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first draft ...

. He was named the starting right tackle in Week 5, and started the final 12 games, as well as both games in the playoffs. Smith was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

list by the team on December 25, 2020, and activated on December 30. On July 28, 2021, Smith signed a four-year, $72.4 million contract extension with the Colts.

References

External links

Auburn Tigers bioIndianapolis Colts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Braden 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Olathe, Kansas Players of American football from Kansas American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Auburn Tigers football players Indianapolis Colts players