Falcons tight end Lee Smith retires after 11 years in NFL

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Lee Smith plans to build a gym and mentor young athletes after announcing his retirement from the NFL.

The 34-year-old tight end spent 11 seasons in the league, playing for the Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders and Atlanta Falcons.

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Known mostly for his blocking skills, Smith said he's going to build a gym in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, that "allows young athletes to train the way the professional athletes train."

More important, he hopes to be a trusted confidante to those dealing with problems away from the field.

"I never had that person that said, ‘Hey, it’s OK to screw up. It's how you recover from that, it's how you rebound, it's how you don't let one mistake turn into 50 mistakes,'" Smith said in a video message released this week by the Falcons. "I was a 50-mistake kid. It would warm my heart and really bring me a lot of joy in life if I could be a resource to these kids."

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan throws a baseball into a net as head coach Arthur Smith looks on during the team's mini camp football practice Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

His gym will be known as Triple F Gym — "faith, family and football, in that order," he explained.

"I’m fired up about life after football," Smith said. "It's time to pass the torch and give on to the next crew and help them be better players, better people and better young men."

Smith spent six years with the Bills over two stints, sandwiched around four seasons with the Raiders. He was traded to the Falcons to play his final year closer to home.

For his career, Smith had 73 catches for 523