Cornerback Jimmy Smith the reason the Ravens got Shareece Wright

The Ravens need help on the back of their defense. With injuries and poor play plaguing the team all season long, the Ravens went out and picked up cornerback Shareece Wright. However, if it weren't for cornerback Jimmy Smith, the Ravens might have had to tap a different well.

Wright and Smith played high school football together in Colton California. Both players coming up together and making it to the NFL is such a rare occurance that when the Ravens asked Jimmy Smith to call his best friend and try to persuade him to come to Baltimore instead of Seattle like he was leaning, Smith took up the challenge.

They told me they were trying to pick him up and [asked me] to give him a call, because he was leaning towards going to the Seahawks.

I called him and was like, ‘How rare is this that you get to play ball, starting corner, with your best friend in the league and in high school?’ So, it’s a unique privilege and it’s a great feeling to have somebody that you’ve known for that long right here.

I’m 100 percent sure he came here because of me. (laughter) No doubt about it; he’s a West Coast guy. He was not coming out to the East unless I was there.

Shareece Wright has had a tough time in the NFL since bring drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the third round of the 2011 NFL Draft. The Chargers let him hit free agency where the San Francisco 49ers picked him up on a one-year contract, but kept him inactive for the first three games of the season before releasing him.

Asking Jimmy Smith though, Wright is a player that taught him what he knows and is going into a good situation, something he might not have had previously.

To be honest, when I first started playing football, he was the one that taught me. Him and another one of my friends, they were like the football gods in our area, and I was just a basketball kid trying to play football. So, they taught me a lot. But we’ve always had a great relationship; we’ve always stayed in contact. It’s just kind of crazy that he’s here.

We train together in the offseason. So, it’s a blessing in disguise that we get to sit and talk about this defense now, how to play it and what to do. It’s a really good situation.

Jimmy Smith has had an up and down season so far, but looks to be regaining some of his Pro Bowl caliber form that fans saw prior to his injury last year. With Smith and Wright teaming back up again, there is hope that a little of Smith can rub off on Wright and the Ravens will find yet another diamond in the rough.