Robert Smith
When Robert Smith announced his retirement from the NFL, it was expected that, after discussions with the team, he would, as a salary cap courtesy, wait until after June 1 to officially file his retirement paperwork with the league office. June 1 has almost turned into July 1, and, as of now, there has been no official filing.
VU contacted both people with the Vikings and the NFL league office in New York to verify the progress with the Smith retirement paperwork and got the same answer -- we haven't heard anything. Both the Vikings and the league suits said that Smith is considered retired and has been placed on a retired list, but, until he submits paperwork to the league -- a condition of getting hooked into the NFL pension -- Smith is not officially considered retired by the bookkeeping personnel with the NFL.
Is this a sign of something? Don't bet on it. Smith is retired, despite a Twin Cities columnist's bizarre conspiracy plot to have Smith play for Tampa Bay. He's retired and is going to stay that way and, when he gets around to it, he'll submit his retirement paperwork -- most likely when all of his medical follow-ups from his knee surgery in January have been completed.
THURSDAY NOTE* Two Viking defensive tackles were named to the first team All-NFL Europe team. Winfield Garnett of the Amsterdam Admirals and Tim Engelhardt of the Barcelona Dragons were both named to the first team as the two starting DT's on the All-Pro squad. Garnett finished third in the league with eight sacks, while Engelhardt finished fifth in sacks with 6.5 -- impressive numbers for a pair of interior linemen. Both are hoping to get into the rotation on the defensive line when they return to the Vikings for training camp a month from now.