It's like the pre-draft process never ended for Geno Smith. Fresh off the New York Jets quarterback's decision to fire his agents, Smith continues to get picked apart nationally.
Yahoo! Sports wrote a long takedown of Smith on Wednesday that starts by saying the "quarterback is still under great scrutiny in league circles."
This wouldn't be the case if Smith was drafted by a team other than the New York Jets. This also wouldn't be the case if Smith's former agents didn't have an agenda.
The Yahoo! report reveals details of a private client dinner in New York last week during which Smith called his agents "family," saying they would stay together his entire career. Days later, after the draft-day free fall, Smith fired the agents. The agents responded by releasing a blame-shifting statement to the media Tuesday night.
Other information that did not paint Smith in a flattering light conveniently leaked out to reporters Tuesday and in the Yahoo! Sports article. Smith reportedly turned off some teams by spending too much time on his cellphone during visits rather than engaging with team officials.
"All these other players who were in there were talking to the coaches, trying to get to know people, and he was over there by himself. That's not what you want out of your quarterback," one unnamed source told Yahoo!.
A league executive in the piece questioned whether Smith knows how to take instruction and said that Smith has tuned out other voices "because he thinks he's got it all down."
Another anonymous source: "Right now, he's blaming everybody but himself, and he has some buddies around him who are telling him that same thing."
Some of the criticisms about Smith's leadership style -- and how that style affected his draft stock -- could have merit. But Smith made a business decision to fire his agents, and he's getting punished for it in petty, unprofessional ways.
Clearly, his former agents have a score to settle.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
