The Baltimore Ravens plan to be playing into February, despite the average temperature in Charm City dipping under 30 degrees. Baltimore will obviously embrace such a small sacrifice but Roquan Smith is using Christmas to prepare for it.
Smith, continuing to work through his first full season as a Raven, had a warm Christmas gift for his fellow purple defenders, bestowing them customized robes from Versace. Working through the first stage of a five-year, $100 million contract, Smith can obviously afford the Italian luxury brand's finest wares, but his gesture was hardly about making a financial statement.
"I was thinking of the guys," Smith said, per the Ravens' official site. "Obviously, (we're) a very close group. I care a lot about the guys. I just wanted to do something the guys would cherish and remember."
Every member of the Baltimore defense earned an extra layer from Smith, who also made sure to take care of the practice squaders. Smith, the eighth overall pick of the 2018 draft and former Chicago Bear has offered Ravens fans defensive gifts all season, pushing Baltimore to the top of the current AFC bracket. Through 14 games, Smith has put up 142 tackles, six pass breakups, and a forced fumble.
If he wasn't already entrenched in the modern Ravens culture, Smith officially made his mark with his gift.
"That's how you know he makes a lot of money though," Smith's linebacking compatriot Patrick Queen said. "People don't really see that side of him but I'm glad everybody gets to see (it)."
Smith certainly won't be as generous come Christmas Day, as he and the Ravens (11-3) face the high-octane offense of the San Francisco 49ers in a highly-anticipated interconference clash in Santa Clara (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC).
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