Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve L Smith was talking off to the side at Lardarius Webb's charity softball game on Sunday when a foul ball zipped in his direction.
Smith, who is coming off a season-ending Achilles injury, showed an impressive burst and change of direction to avoid it.
Smith tore his Achilles tendon on Nov. 1 and hasn't participated in any offseason workouts. In March, Smith said he was confident he would be ready for the start of the regular season. On Sunday, he declined to give a timetable on his return.
"I don't know when I'm coming back," he said. "I just know I have to be able to do something in training camp to be able to play for the season. That's just the way I operate. I can't go from doing absolutely nothing [and] sitting on my butt for all of training camp and then go out there and play."
It's a bad idea to doubt Smith, who is one of the toughest and most resilient players in the league. But he's a 37-year-old coming off of an Achilles injury. When healthy, he'll be the WR1 for the Ravens, but one has to wonder just how many games he'll be able to play this season. Father Time is undefeated.
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