Steve Smith Had To Tell Tyree Jackson To Stop Throwing So Hard At Receivers During Their Combine Drills 

The powers that be at the NFL combine realized long ago that they can recycle players in attendance from drill to drill, regardless of whether those players are the ones actually being evaluated. This was the case Saturday afternoon during the gauntlet drill for receiver prospects.

During a gauntlet drill, a receiver is tasked with catching a ball being thrown from his left and his right while standing still and running down the field shortly after. One of the final quarterbacks helping out with the drill was Buffalo’s Tyree Jackson. Rich Eisen soon began to notice that when receivers got to the part where they had to catch a pass from Jackson, they lifting their hands in an attempt to protect their face rather than actually catch the ball. NFL analyst Steve Smith, who was down on the field during the drill, decided to stick up for his positional compatriots and gave Jackson a stern talking to stop him from “messin’ up people’s money over here.”

The broadcasting group thought the whole moment was hilarious but they might have missed out on hearing the bit-too-aggressive comment from Smith suggesting that one of the receivers should throw the ball hard at Jackson to see how he likes it.

I know this is a job interview but someone needs to throw the ball back to Jackson one time. He’ll get the message.

It’s the kind of threat that’d probably be more of an appalling moment if it wasn’t Steve Smith, the guy who threatened to whoop Michael Irvin’s ass live on air, saying it. Jackson, likely using his smile as a defense mechanism to cope with the fear he’s experiencing, appeared to take Smith’s advice to heart and threw a lighter, more catchable ball on the next round.