Taking a look at the Jets’ new tight end
The Jets signed former Chargers tight end Stone Smartt to a one-year contract during the first week of free agency. Today we break Smartt down in detail.
The 26-year old Smartt is listed at 6’4” and 226 pounds. He was undrafted out of Old Dominion in 2022. He’s mostly been a reserve over the course of his three-year career, but he has started six games and caught 31 passes for 380 yards and a touchdown.
Background
Smartt began his career as a quarterback and wasn’t a highly-sought after high school recruit so he opted to go down the junior college route.
He started off at NAU in 2017, but only saw action in two games, completing 13 of 28 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown with one interception. He also rushed for 97 yards and two scores.
After the season, he transferred to Riverside City, where he was a first team JUCO all-American and the NJCAA Athletic Bureau Offensive Player of the Year as he completed 64 percent of his passes for over 2,700 yards with 31 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He also rushed for 583 yards and nine scores.
From there, he transferred to ODU, where he started seven times in 2019, but only had 1,006 passing yards and a touchdown with six interceptions as he completed 57 percent of his passes. He did rush for five scores though.
After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Smartt converted to wide receiver. He played in eight games in 2021, starting five, and had 167 yards on 17 catches.
During the pre-draft process, Smartt worked out at multiple positions and the Chargers opted to sign him as an undrafted free agent and convert him to a full-time tight end.
He made the team as a rookie, although he didn’t play much, catching four passes and making just one start. However, his role increased in 2023, as he made three starts and caught 11 passes for 155 yards.
He had a similar rotational role in 2024 for most of the year, but got some opportunities for additional playing time down the stretch and had some good production in those games to end the year with 16 catches for 208 yards.
The Jets signed Smartt to a one-year deal in the first week of free agency.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Smartt brings to the table as a player, based on extensive research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Smart has decent size and a good wingspan. Despite being listed at only 226, he’s probably bigger than that by now, as he needed to bulk up early in his career. He was listed at 232 in college but only managed 12 bench press reps at his pro day.
He otherwise had excellent numbers at his pro day workout, which profile similarly to Zack Kuntz, who in addition to being his new teammate on the Jets, was also his teammate in 2021 at ODU. Smartt’s vertical (40 inches) and broad jump (128 inches) were identical to those of Kuntz, while his 40-yard dash (4.62) and agility numbers were not far off. Kuntz’s athleticism was lauded when the Jets drafted him but Smartt profiles pretty similarly.
Usage
Since coming to the NFL, Smartt has had a chance to play in-line for the first time in his career, although he still plays in the slot or out wide over half of the time, which he obviously had experience of in college.
Although he was officially listed as a wide receiver in his final year of college, he also lined up in the backfield and took wildcat snaps at times.
Downfield threat
Smartt isn’t necessarily a deep threat that will get behind the defense, but he can do damage going down the seam or on long over routes. He has had five catches on passes more than 20 yards downfield at the NFL level in his career so far.
Routes
Smartt is obviously relatively new to the art of route running, but he seems to understand the art of deception and the concept of leverage. Clearly he has worked hard at mastering the techniques too. He uses deception coming off the line and can break sharply to the inside or outside.
His size is an asset and he has sufficient burst out of his breaks to gain natural separation at the catch-point even if he can’t shake completely loose from his man.
Hands
Smartt was an efficient pass catching option last season as he had 16 catches on just 19 targets. He shows good abilities to extend for passes beyond his frame, go up and over defensive players or hang onto the ball in traffic.
He only has two drops at the NFL level, and he didn’t have any in college. However, he did have two more in preseason action and there have been some other catches off his fingertips that he may have felt he should have been able to hold onto.
Red zone
Smartt hasn’t been a red zone option at all since moving to a pass catching role. He had no touchdown catches in college and his only touchdown in NFL preseason or regular season action was a long one. In fact, the only target he has ever had in the red zone was this one and he dropped it.
He has scored a lot of touchdowns as a ball carrier when playing quarterback though, so clearly he has a nose for the end zone.
After the catch
As a dual threat quarterback, Smartt displayed some good running ability and was capable of making yards after contact and breaking tackles. He hasn’t done much of that as a receiver, though, although he does show an ability to turn it upfield and fall forwards at the end of a run.
On this play, he did break the safety’s tackle and showed some impressive speed to get to the end zone.
He had one fumble last season.
Run blocking
Blocking has obviously been a work in progress for Smartt but he is a willing blocker who says he embraces the physicality and plays with a chip on his shoulder in blocking situations. Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman implied that he was underrated as a blocker but still needed to do more work in the weight room to be more effective.
His run blocking grades have typically been below average but he is capable of neutralizing his man most of the time in the trenches and making impact blocks against smaller players.
He can line up at full back as well and has had mixed results within that role. He will occasionally let his man leverage off him when lead blocking from the full back position but made a good block on the move here.
Pass blocking
Staying in to pass protect hasn’t been something Smartt has done much of, although he will often chip his man and then leak out into a route. Here’s a play where he didn’t engage with his man in time to prevent a pressure.
He’s been used as a blocker on receiver screens at times but has struggled to make much of an impact within that role.
Physicality
As noted, Smartt embraces the physicality of blocking, can make contested catches in traffic and will use leverage when running routes. He showed a willingness to get physical on this chip block.
He has been flagged for one penalty for offensive pass interference due to a push-off at the NFL level.
Special teams
Smartt has played regularly on special teams over the past two years, although he didn’t much as a rookie. He has rushed punts, blocked on the kickoff return units and in punt protection and covered punts effectively with six coverage team tackles in regular season and preseason action.
As a blocker, he has had two holding penalties on special teams at the NFL level, including one that negated a touchdown return.
He hasn’t covered kickoffs much, other than in preseason.
In college, Smartt returned five kickoffs for an average of 24.4 yards with a long of 39.
Instincts
With his experience as a quarterback, you’d expect Smartt to have a good understanding of schemes and where the soft spots might be in defensive coverages. He’s showed some signs of being able to exploit this knowledge.
We’ve heard in the past, specifically from Lawrence Cager, that the toughest part of converting from wide receiver to tight end is the mental aspect of the game, rather than the additional emphasis on blocking as you might expect. Smartt is perhaps showing he’s starting to get that aspect down by the fact he’s been getting on the field and making contributions these past few years.
He has only been flagged for one pre-snap penalty due to an illegal formation since he’s been in the NFL.
At ODU he was a member of the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society.
Attitude
Smartt is a hard worker, who does a lot of preparation to get to grips with the scheme and his technique. He said the decision to fly out to Oregon for additional work with Justin Herbert one offseason had a significant impact on his confidence. He is regarded as someone who practices well.
Injuries
Smartt has only missed three games over the past two years, but he was dealing with an ankle issue that cost him some practice and game time in 2024. He also spent time on the non-football injury list in camp, for undisclosed reasons.
Scheme fit
Smartt is obviously more of an F tight end, who is more likely to split out or go in motion than be a well-rounded player who contributes in the trenches. Right now, the Jets’ tight end position is wide open due to Tyler Conklin’s departure, so Smartt could have a shot at earning a bigger role than he ever had in Los Angeles, barring further major additions.
In addition to being a college teammate of Kuntz, he also played with current Jets Zack Bailey and Pokey Wilson in Los Angeles.
Conclusions
Smartt is a low-risk pickup which could enable the Jets to give a big opportunity to someone who some regard as potentially primed for a breakout season.
He was productive down the stretch last year, especially when Will Dissly missed a couple of games due to injury. However, he was kind of lost in the shuffle once Dissly returned. If he could produce like that in a full-time role over the course of a full season, Smartt could prove to be a bargain in 2025.
It seems like the Jets have brought in a lot of athletic tight ends over the years and they never seem to amount to much. However, elsewhere around the league, tight ends routinely seem to come from nowhere to become big contributors. It may be a long-shot to hope that Smartt will be the next such player, but that will be the best-case scenario here. Failing that, he could provide useful depth to a weak position group and should make some nice plays here and there if given opportunities.