FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots have re-signed defensive lineman Kenny Smith. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Smith, 31, is entering his seventh NFL season after spending six seasons with the New Orleans Saints (2001-04), Oakland Raiders (2005) and New England Patriots (2008). He was signed by the Patriots as a free agent on June 8, 2007, but was released on Aug. 22, 2007 and spent the remainder of the 2007 season out of football. He was re-signed by New England on April 23, 2008 and was placed on injured reserve on Aug. 30 with an arm injury, causing him to miss the 2008 season. The 6-foot-4-inch, 303-pound defensive lineman has played in 30 career games with 10 starts and has recorded 69 career tackles (56 solo), 4.5 sacks, two passes defensed and two fumble recoveries. The University of Alabama product was originally drafted by the Saints in the third round (81st overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft. He appeared in six games as a rookie for New Orleans and totaled eight tackles (7 solo). In 2002, Smith saw action in nine games with one start and notched 19 tackles (17 solo), including 3.5 sacks, one pass defensed and one fumble recovery. In 2003, he set career highs with nine starts in 15 games while compiling 42 tackles (32 solo), including one sack, one pass defensed and one fumble recovery. Smith spent the 2004 season on injured reserve with the Saints, and was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Oakland Raiders on March 31, 2005. He was subsequently placed on injured reserve by Oakland and missed the entire 2005 season. After spending the 2006 season out of football, Smith was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent on March 7, 2007 and was released by the Buccaneers on April 30, 2007.
