Panthers great Steve Smith: Muhsin Muhammad 'made me'

Competition breeds excellence, even from your own teammates. That’s a lesson every player who’s ever stepped foot on an NFL field should have, at some point, realized. Carolina Panthers all-time great Steve Smith shared the story of his realization.

On the latest episode of his podcast Cut To It featuring Steve Smith Sr., the franchise legend laid out his recollection of how former teammate and fellow Panthers wideout Muhsin Muhammad created a monster. And that monster was Smith.

BEST OF BANTER: Moose made me the player I became in the league #Agent89

: https://t.co/COtuxsRGHO#CutToIt pic.twitter.com/Wjsq5GB9LY

— Cut To It ft. Steve Smith Sr. (@CutToIt) September 2, 2021

Smith brings back an incident where Muhammad chided the then-rookie for allowing Richardson Williamson, the team’s wideouts coach at the time, to verbally dress him down during a practice. From that moment on, Smith wouldn’t let go of Muhammad, playfully or not, questioning his fire.

“But what Moose doesn’t understand, is Moose created me,” he said. “My goal was to remove Moose off every category in the wide receivers’ record books for the Carolina Panthers. My goal was to when they say ‘Carolina Panthers wide receiver,’ Muhsin Muhammad’s name is not to be mentioned. And from that day forward, whatever Moose did, my goal was to do it better.”

Smith continued.

“If he caught one pass with one hand, I wanted to catch ten. If he caught two first downs, I wanted to catch 20. If he finished with 20 yards of YAC [yards after the catch], I wanted to catch him with 40. Every single day from that day forward, my goal was to remove Moose from the record books. And there’s only gonna be one name. Mine.”

Well, as good as Muhammad was, Smith did end up doing it better. He tops every man to ever wear a Panthers uniform in receptions (836), receiving yards (12,197) and receiving touchdowns (67). Muhammad, although second, is a distant one in each category with 696 catches, 9,255 yards and 50 touchdowns.

So, here’s another lesson . . . don’t piss off Steve Smith Sr.