← 1981 DRAFT PLAYER PROFILE R1 · #15 OVERALL · DB

Dennis Smith

Drafted by DEN · GM Edgar Kaiser/staff · USC

All NFL teams

Full-career context

These totals follow Dennis Smith across every NFL team. Draft credit is separated below for each team that selected him.

Games played184
Games started170
Weighted career AV74
Pro Bowls6
AP1 All-Pro0
Career seasons14

Accountability by draft event

What each drafting team received

1981 · Round 1 · #15

DEN draft credit

GM Edgar Kaiser/staff

Team games184
Team starts170
On-team AV100
On-team PB / AP16 / 0
Excellent+2.88 contribution4th of 30 picks for this GM

Games: direct team-season record. Starts: direct team-season record.

An Excellent pick

Dennis Smith was Edgar Kaiser/staff's 4th-best of 30 picks across his career.

His retained-value contribution score (opportunity plus quality plus recognition, with related outcomes collapsed inside each bucket) is +2.88. This is a per-pick accountability metric, separate from Edgar Kaiser/staff's leaderboard composite θ.

The walkthrough below shows which bucket carried the pick: playing time, value quality, or league honors.

Opportunity
Did he earn the field?
Games played
184
on drafting team
Games started
170
on drafting team
Snap-z
0.0
0 modeled seasons
Quality
Was that time valuable?
On-team AV
100
modeled; full weighted AV 74
AV / 1k snaps
snap-era only
AV-rate z
position-year adjusted quality
Recognition
Did the league notice?
Pro Bowls
6
all on drafting team
AP1 All-Pro
0 AP1
all on drafting team · AP2 context 1
All-Decade
0
context only

Did this pick move Edgar Kaiser/staff's grade?

The first chart removes the time axis: every Edgar Kaiser/staff pick is sorted by retained contribution across opportunity, quality, and recognition. Dennis Smith totals +2.88. The second chart breaks that same contribution into the seasons when the evidence arrived. Opportunity and quality can move separately, which keeps high-snap, low-AV profiles from looking cleaner than they are.

Aggregate contribution by player

-3-2-10+1+2+3+4+542. Jones#42 · Rulon Jones · aggregate +5.19Jones +5.2131. Winder#131 · Sammy Winder · aggregate +3.61Winder +3.6157. Bishop#157 · Keith Bishop · aggregate +3.26Bishop +3.315. Smith#15 · Dennis Smith · aggregate +2.88Smith +2.9186. Kay#186 · Clarence Kay · aggregate +2.48Kay +2.5125. Lanier#125 · Ken Lanier · aggregate +2.40Lanier +2.4131. Harden#131 · Mike Harden · aggregate +1.9546. Townsend#46 · Andre Townsend · aggregate +1.46181. Busick#181 · Steve Busick · aggregate +1.3778. Lilly#78 · Tony Lilly · aggregate +0.6289. Robbins#89 · Randy Robbins · aggregate +0.3560. Sampson#60 · Clint Sampson · aggregate +0.23172. Dupree#172 · Myron Dupree · aggregate -0.1321. Willhite#21 · Gerald Willhite · aggregate -0.20107. Parros#107 · Rick Parros · aggregate -0.30189. Ruben#189 · Alvin Ruben · aggregate -0.33136. Short#136 · Laval Short · aggregate -0.38159. Smith#159 · Aaron Smith · aggregate -0.42143. Heflin#143 · Victor Heflin · aggregate -0.48125. Baldwin#125 · Bruce Baldwin · aggregate -0.56151. Lewis#151 · Alvin Lewis · aggregate -0.57184. Havekost#184 · John Havekost · aggregate -0.68106. Plater#106 · Dan Plater · aggregate -0.74116. Harris#116 · George Harris · aggregate -0.814. Hinton#4 · Chris Hinton · aggregate -0.8674. Carter#74 · Larry Carter · aggregate -1.0142. Brown#42 · Clay Brown · aggregate -1.1850. McDaniel#50 · Orlando McDaniel · aggregate -1.1931. Cooper#31 · Mark Cooper · aggregate -1.3798. Herrmann#98 · Mark Herrmann · aggregate -3.40Herrmann -3.4

Incremental contribution by season

-8-6-4-20+2+4+6+8+101980 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.081980 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.261980 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.311980 · Mike Harden · incremental -0.441980 · Laval Short · incremental -0.631980 · John Havekost · incremental -1.121980 · Larry Carter · incremental -1.671981 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.141981 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.251981 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.631981 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.061981 · Mark Herrmann · incremental -0.541981 · Alvin Lewis · incremental -0.941981 · Clay Brown · incremental -1.111981 · Ken Lanier · incremental -1.561981 · Dennis Smith · incremental -2.831982 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.121982 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.121982 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.121982 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.161982 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.231982 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.291982 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.411982 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.051982 · Gerald Willhite · incremental -0.521982 · Alvin Ruben · incremental -0.591982 · Dan Plater · incremental -1.211982 · Orlando McDaniel · incremental -1.881982 · Mark Herrmann · incremental -4.771983 · Gerald Willhite · incremental +0.051983 · Clint Sampson · incremental +0.081983 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.351983 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.451983 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.471983 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.491983 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.531983 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.551983 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.581983 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.021983 · Myron Dupree · incremental -0.241983 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.571983 · Victor Heflin · incremental -0.851983 · Clay Brown · incremental -0.891983 · Bruce Baldwin · incremental -0.981983 · George Harris · incremental -1.331983 · Chris Hinton · incremental -2.991984 · Clint Sampson · incremental +0.081984 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.091984 · Gerald Willhite · incremental +0.091984 · Tony Lilly · incremental +0.151984 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.381984 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.421984 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.461984 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.491984 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.551984 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.671984 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.681984 · Sammy Winder · incremental +1.691984 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.071984 · Randy Robbins · incremental -0.141984 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.501984 · Aaron Smith · incremental -0.711985 · Gerald Willhite · incremental +0.001985 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.101985 · Clint Sampson · incremental +0.181985 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.251985 · Tony Lilly · incremental +0.271985 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.481985 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.501985 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.521985 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.531985 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.591985 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.611985 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.741985 · Rulon Jones · incremental +1.651985 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.351986 · Clint Sampson · incremental +0.091986 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.161986 · Tony Lilly · incremental +0.241986 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.471986 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.501986 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.511986 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.521986 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.781986 · Keith Bishop · incremental +1.541986 · Sammy Winder · incremental +1.591986 · Rulon Jones · incremental +3.681986 · Gerald Willhite · incremental -0.181986 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.491987 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.061987 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.181987 · Tony Lilly · incremental +0.301987 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.391987 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.391987 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.401987 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.471987 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.481987 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.481987 · Keith Bishop · incremental +1.471987 · Gerald Willhite · incremental -0.001987 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.101988 · Gerald Willhite · incremental +0.051988 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.121988 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.201988 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.291988 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.431988 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.501988 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.511988 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.521988 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.531988 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.541989 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.161989 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.311989 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.331989 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.391989 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.501989 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.601989 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.871990 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.071990 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.201990 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.281990 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.501990 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.571990 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.811991 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.161991 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.491991 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.581991 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.871992 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.411992 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.471992 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.511993 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.811994 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.041994 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.31Carter -1.7Lanier -1.6Smith -2.8Smith +0.2McDaniel -1.9Herrmann -4.8Smith +0.3Hinton -3.0Smith +0.4Winder +1.7Smith +0.7Jones +1.7Smith +0.8Bishop +1.5Winder +1.6Jones +3.7Smith +0.2Smith +0.3Smith +0.9Smith +0.8Smith +0.9Smith +0.4Smith +0.8Smith +0.319807 players19819 players198213 players198317 players198416 players198514 players198613 players198712 players198810 players19897 players19906 players19914 players19923 players19931 player19942 players
Above expectationBelow expectationDennis SmithGM total +11.2Dennis Smith by season +4.2

How much retained production did Dennis Smith return vs. his slot?

Each mark below is one player's model value above slot. Light gray marks are slot-similar peers: DBs drafted within ±5 picks of Dennis Smith since 2010 (11 players).The score is the retained production/value bucket from the pick-residual model: on-team AV plus AV-rate quality, adjusted for draft slot, position, and era. Opportunity snaps and league honors are excluded.

-1.5-1-0.50+0.5+1+1.5+2Model value above slot14. ThomasEarl Thomas · model value +2.5+2.515. SmithDennis Smith · model value +1.5+1.517. GonzalezChristian Gonzalez · model value +1.314. FullerKyle Fuller · model value +0.518. ReidEric Reid · model value +0.218. PryorCalvin Pryor · model value -0.115. VaccaroKenny Vaccaro · model value -0.417. KirkpatrickDre Kirkpatrick · model value -0.619. AmukamaraPrince Amukamara · model value -0.720. JacksonKareem Jackson · model value -0.810. GilmoreStephon Gilmore · model value -1.412. HaydenD.J. Hayden · model value -1.6
Dennis SmithSlot-similar peers (11)

Cumulative value over time

Year-by-year running totals since draft. Left axis = games started. Right axis = honors (Pro Bowl / AP1 / AP2). Pre-2013 picks have no games-started line because that comes from per-game snap counts (not available for older players). Honors extend back to 1980.

'82'84'86'88'90'92'9404385128170012345Cumulative GSHonors count
Games started (cumulative) Pro Bowls AP1 All-Pro AP2 All-Pro

Full-career season history (14 scored seasons)

YearTeamGPGSSnapsSnap-zAVAV/snapPBAP1AP2
1981DEN1644
1982DEN885
1983DEN14136
1984DEN15159
1985DEN13127
1986DEN14147
1987DEN664
1988DEN11115
1989DEN141413·
1990DEN15158
1991DEN161611
1992DEN16167
1993DEN14149
1994DEN12125

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