Jaden Smith
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Jaden Smith.
After 1 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in which he spent the entire time on injured reserve, the team is parting ways with 6-foot-6, 210-pound wide receiver Jaden Smith.
“Bucs have waived receiver Jaden Smith, who spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve,” Fox Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman wrote on his official X account on Thursday.
“Smith signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and joined the team’s ongoing training camp,” Nevada Sports Net’s Chris Murray wrote in July 2025. “Smith spent rookie minicamp in Green Bay and Tampa Bay. Smith is the 13th wideout on the Bucs’ training camp roster. The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Smith spent one season with the Wolf Pack, leading the team with 62 catches for 849 yards and seven touchdowns last year after stints at Montana State and Tarleton State. He was All-Mountain West honorable mention. In 45 games with those three programs, he caught 138 passes for 2,100 yards and 20 touchdowns. Nevada head coach Jeff Choate originally signed Smith when he was Montana State’s head coach before adding him as a transfer at Nevada last year.”
Smith had 1 reception for 9 yards in 2 preseason games for the Buccaneers in 2025.
Jaden Smith Could Have Been Red Zone Threat
It’s too bad the Buccaneers never got a chance to see how they could use a player with Smith’s height and skill set in the red zone, where he thrived in college.
“He’s an elite red zone threat,” Nevada head coach Jeff Choate said in 2024. “I don’t know that I’ve ever been around a guy, and I’ve coached some places, that has anybody any better than Jaden Smith is in the red zone.”
Smith had a pair of 800-yard receiving campaigns in 6 college seasons.
“He also had another 800-plus-yard season with Tarleton State in 2022,” Heavy’s Michael Obermuller wrote in 2025. “Plus, he achieved double-digits receiving touchdowns that year with 10. The remainder of Smith’s collegiate career was less notable.”