Billy Ray Smith Jr. is a career quality starter — a linebacker whose body of work places Ray in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Ray's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

LBLAC#0RES

Billy Ray Smith Jr.

Top 13% all-time linebackersIron Man

Height6'3"

Weight231 lb

BornAug 10, 1961

Age64

CollegeArkansas See College Stats

Rookie yr1983

Draft1983 · Rd 1, Pick 5 · SDG

Archetype Intelligence

Iron ManExplore archetypes →

A high-end linebacker defined as much by excellent availability over their career as by their on-field impact (top 20% all-time). Coaches and teammates could count on them being available.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 117 · #901 · High-Value

Worth 117 points of value above a freely-available replacement linebacker — top 20% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 8 of 9 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +14.6 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

8 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+14.6

Avg surplus

peak +23

8 seasons × ~14.6 surplus ≈ VORP 117

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

2 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense													Passing
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	TD%	Int%	Y/A	AdjY/A	TD:INT	Rate	Sk
1983	—	LAC	16	—	79	54	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	—	3	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1984	—	LAC	16	—	106	66	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	3	8	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1985	—	LAC	15	—	108	71	—	—	—	2.0	2.0	1	7	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1986	—	LAC	16	—	87	68	—	—	—	11.0	11.0	—	3	4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1987	—	LAC	12	—	82	67	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	5	8	1	—	—	—	0	1	0.0%	0	0	1	0.0	100.0	0.0	-45.0	0.0	0.0	0
1988	—	LAC	9	—	45	27	—	—	—	1.0	1.0	1	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1989	—	LAC	16	—	68	46	—	—	—	2.5	2.5	1	8	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1990	—	LAC	11	—	0	0	—	—	—	1.0	1.0	2	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1991	—	LAC	14	—	23	0	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	2	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Career		—	125	—	598	399	—	—	—	26.5	26.5	15	43	11	0	—	—	0	1	0.0%	0	0	1	0.0	100.0	0.0	-45.0	0.0	0.0	0

Passing

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	TD%	Int%	Y/A	AdjY/A	TD:INT	Rate	Sk	VAL
1987	26	LAC	12	—	0	1	0.0%	0	0	1	0.0	100.0	0.0	-45.0	0.0	0.0	0	8.1
Career			12		0	1	0.0%	0	0	1	0.0	100.0	0.0	—	—	0.0	0	47.6

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1987	26	LAC	12	—	82	67	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	5	8	1	—	—	—
1983	22	LAC	16	—	79	54	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	—	3	0	—	—	—
1984	23	LAC	16	—	106	66	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	3	8	0	—	—	—
1985	24	LAC	15	—	108	71	—	—	—	2.0	2.0	1	7	2	—	—	—
1986	25	LAC	16	—	87	68	—	—	—	11.0	11.0	—	3	4	—	—	—
1988	27	LAC	9	—	45	27	—	—	—	1.0	1.0	1	3	1	—	—	—
1989	28	LAC	16	—	68	46	—	—	—	2.5	2.5	1	8	1	—	—	—
1990	29	LAC	11	—	0	0	—	—	—	1.0	1.0	2	0	0	—	—	—
1991	30	LAC	14	—	23	0	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	2	3	2	—	—	—
Career			125		598	399	—	—	—	—	—	15	43	11	0	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 64 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 64 of 100, era-normalized against tackles/g peers across 9 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 63.6 × longevity 1 = KV-H 64· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 60

On-field 42

Availability 18

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative tackles/g)

1983bestavg 59elite 701991

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 13% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

13% of the all-time Sacks leader13

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 88%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average linebackers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

College Stats

ArkansasCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Arkansas), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1983 Draft Class· this player went #5

#1John ElwayQB #2Eric DickersonRB #3Curt WarnerRB #4Chris HintonG #7Todd BlackledgeQB #8Michael HaddixFB #9Bruce MatthewsC #12Tony HunterTE #14Jim KellyQB #15Tony EasonQB #18Willie GaultWR #24Ken O'BrienQB #27Dan MarinoQB #28Darrell GreenCB #31Mark CooperG #32Henry EllardWR

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Billy opened the Los Angeles Chargers LB lineage the corpus knows, and handed it to Junior Seau (1990–2002).

Billy Ray Smith Jr. 1983–1991Junior Seau 1990–2002Lewis Bush 1993–1999Kurt Gouveia 1996–1998Gerald Dixon 1998–2001Ben Leber 2002–2005

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah

Movementderived from season history

1991final season
Last recorded season with LAC
1983draft
Drafted by SDG — Round 1, Pick 5
1983team change
Joined LAC (from SDG)

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'3" / 231 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 9-season peers. See all →

peak 69

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+1983

B1984

B+1985

B1986

B1987

C+1988

B1989

C1990

C+1991

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 9 seasons.

87%

Era Translator

Tackles translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Tackles	Tackles/G	→ 2025 Tackles	→ 2025 /G
1983	79	4.9	27-52	1.6
1984	106	6.6	90-16	5.3
1985	108	7.2	101-7	5.9
1986	87	5.4	70-17	4.1
1987	82	6.8	109+27	6.4
1988	45	5	79+34	4.7
1989	68	4.3	75+7	4.4
1990	0	0	12+12	0.7
1991	23	1.6	33+10	1.9

Data: nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:players, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

117 career value over replacement — #901 all-time of 4,642. 13/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #5 (Rd 1) · SDG · 1983 · +2.2 vs expected KV-H

64actual

61.8 expected · Δ+2.2

💔+20 stolen VORP·1.17 szns lost

Fan Rating

Rate Billy Ray Smith Jr. — All-Time

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Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Passing

Defense

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1983 Draft Class· this player went #5

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography