Sean Smith was released from prison early Tuesday morning after serving five months of a one-year sentence for a felony assault charge he pleaded guilty to in March. The 31-year-old cornerback was released by the Raiders on March 12, a day before he entered a guilty plea for beating his sister's boyfriend. Smith also had an aggravated battery charge dismissed.
The incident occurred nearly a year ago, in August 2017, near Los Angeles. Smith may have been facing up to seven years in prison for the initial charges.
Smith tweeted about his freedom shortly after he was released on Tuesday, indicating that a lot is on his mind but he needs to work it out.
Smith was accused of causing "serious bodily injury" to his sister's boyfriend after the boyfriend tried to intervene in an argument between Smith and his sister.
Smith was signed by the Raiders to a four-year contract in 2016 after spending seven years with the Kansas City Chiefs. He struggled with the Raiders from Day 1, and his release from the team would likely have come with or without the sentence. He was benched in the 2016 opener and eventually lost his starting job in 2017.
Smith's tweet indicates that he's going to try to work to get back onto an NFL team. However, with preseason having started, the fact he's on the wrong side of 30 and a possible suspension from the NFL looming, Smith may find that the road back to the NFL is going to have a lot more challenges than getting back into playing shape.