Front Office

A.J. Smith was named Senior Executive for the Washington Redskins on March 6, 2013.

Smith is entering his 29th NFL season after 14 seasons with the San Diego Chargers in various capacities. After two years as Assistant General Manager/Director of Pro Personnel with the Chargers from 2001-02, Smith served as the team’s Executive Vice President/General Manager from 2003-12. His 95 wins as general manager are a Chargers record.

Smith assumed the Chargers’ head role following three seasons in which the team had finished a collective 13-35 before eventually winning five AFC West titles under his direction. In his time as General Manager, the Chargers won 98 combined regular season and postseason games, fifth-most in the AFC and sixth-most in the NFL.

Before Smith was named general manager, the Chargers had not been to the playoffs or had a winning record for seven consecutive seasons. Under Smith’s leadership, the team did not post a losing record for eight straight seasons from 2004-11.

Smith was widely recognized as one of the National Football League’s top executives. He was named the NFL’s 2004 Executive of the Year by Pro Football Weekly, the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA), FoxSports.com and CBS Sportsline.com. In 2006, Forbes named him its top NFL General Manager, and in addition, the magazine ranked Smith fourth overall among his counterparts in the four major professional sports leagues in the U.S. and Canada (NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB). In 2009, USA Today ranked Smith sixth on their list of the Top 20 Personnel Executives in the NFL, and Forbes recognized Smith once again in 2010, ranking him fifth on its list of the Top 10 NFL GMs.

“A.J. learned from Bill Polian in Buffalo. And he learned from George Allen in the USFL,” Baltimore Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome said. “He’s been around successful people, so he’s learned the right way to do things.”

Smith has worked in pro football since 1977, including three years in the United States Football League in the early 1980s. He spent 14 seasons (1987-00) with the Buffalo Bills, joining the team as an area scout in 1987 before being named assistant director of college scouting in 1989. In 1993, Smith became director of pro personnel. During his tenure in Buffalo, Smith worked closely with Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy as the team’s assistant director of college scouting. During that time, Buffalo made appearances in Super Bowls XXV, XXVI and XXVII. Smith was promoted to director of pro personnel prior to the Bills’ appearance in Super Bowl XXVIII.

Smith served as the Chargers’ pro personnel director from 1985-86. He also held scouting positions with the USFL’s Chicago Blitz (1982-83) and Pittsburgh Maulers (1984). He began his NFL career in 1977 as a volunteer part-time scout for the New York Giants under the direction of Jim Trimble and moved on to become a part-time scout for the New England Patriots (1978-80) and Houston Oilers (1981).

Smith made his start in football as an assistant coach at Cranston West H.S. in Cranston, R.I., from 1971-76. He was the head coach of the Rhode Island Kings of the Eastern Football League in 1976 and an assistant coach at the University of Rhode Island in 1978.

Smith is a graduate of Bishop Hendricken H.S. in Warwick, R.I. He was a standout on the football and track teams and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2003. Smith earned a degree in health and physical education from Kentucky Wesleyan College in 1971 and was inducted into the college’s inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame class in 2013. A plaque hangs in his honor  in the A.J. Smith Weight Room inside the Woodward Health and Recreation Center at Kentucky Wesleyan.

Smith played semi-pro football as a wide receiver with the Attleboro (Mass.) Kings of the Eastern Football League from 1972-74 and had a tryout with the Redskins in 1974. He was inducted into the American Football Association’s Minor Semi-pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990. Smith also taught health and physical education in the Providence (R.I.) junior high school system from 1971-85.

Smith and his wife, Susan, reside in Del Mar, Calif.. The Smiths have two children: a daughter, Andrea, and a son, Kyle. Andrea graduated Cum Laude from Cortland State in New York with a degree in sports management, where she was an honorable mention All-America volleyball player for the Red Dragons. Andrea now lives in San Diego and is the Manager of Petco Park Suites for Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres.

Kyle graduated from Youngstown State, where he had an outstanding career as a wide receiver and punt returner. Smith now lives in Atlanta and has served as the Redskins’ southeast area scout since 2011.