'A Dream Come True': EJ Smith's Path to Build His Own Legacy in Kansas City

This offseason, the Kansas City Chiefs signed running back Emmitt Smith.

No, not the Hall of Fame star runner of the 1990s Dallas Cowboys—that's Emmett James Smith III. The Chiefs signed his son, Emmett James "EJ" Smith IV, as an undrafted free agent after the 2026 NFL Draft.

EJ Smith spent six years in college football, suiting up for four seasons with Stanford before playing two more seasons at Texas A&M. Now, he's a Chief.

Speaking to members of the media at training camp on Monday, Smith said he received a call after the draft from Chiefs running backs coach DeMarco Murray, who once recruited Smith out of high school.

Now that Smith is on an NFL roster, how does he begin to build a legacy of his own?

"I mean, shoot, y'all know who my dad is," Smith said. "He was a first-rounder, I'm an undrafted guy, so my path is already different from his. Throughout my journey, [I'm] just making sure I pave my own path, doing it my way and learning from him through his lessons as well; it's very important for me. As a kid, my dad always told me to build my own legacy."

Smith reflected on his battles at the college level, recalling four injuries that impacted his collegiate career, so what was it like to walk down the hill at Missouri Western State University to begin his first NFL training camp?

"It was a dream come true," Smith said. "It was a long road to get here, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity, just through all the obstacles that made me become the person who I am today, in order to prepare me for this opportunity."

One unique feature of the Chiefs' rookies-and-quarterbacks portion of training camp came at the running back position, where Smith shared a backfield with fellow undrafted rookie Jaydn Ott and rookie fifth-round pick Emmett Johnson. Has the young trio developed camaraderie amongst the competition?

"Oh, most definitely there's competition," Smith said. "Competition makes us better. We push each other every day. Whenever we have questions, we talk to each other about it, making sure that we know our assignments, we know our alignments before we get on this field. It's really a brotherhood—making sure that we prepare, we execute, and we show effort on the field. [That's] very important, just for the running back room, period. We're the example. Even though we're rookies, there are still people who are looking at us to do something."

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