It wasn’t long after linebacker Tyreke Smith got the August call that he was signed to the Kansas City Chiefs practice team that his wife and kids said goodbye to him outside the Seattle airport.
This time, Smith’s wife, Charnay, knew what to expect. Smith had previously been signed to Arizona and was boarding a plane within hours of the call.
“That was our first experience, and it was terrible,” she said. “We were so sad because we didn't realize how soon they booked your flight to leave.”
Just months after abandoning her business, uprooting their lives and signing a lease in Arizona, Smith re-signed to Seattle’s practice team. It was a lesson learned for the family.
As Smith now moves to Kansas City, his wife and the three kids will stay in Washington.
There’s no playbook for being an NFL spouse — it’s learn as you go.
Charnay Smith went from being a fan to a wife trying to navigate her husband’s sudden career moves, keeping things in order at home, and struggling with feelings of losing her identity.
When the family moved to Arizona, she became a stay-at-home mom. Not working or contributing financially was an unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling.
“I didn't realize that I connected my self-worth with working and providing for myself,” she said. “I enjoy working, like, (not working) was making me depressed.”
Some equate being a professional athlete with a million-dollar contract, massive home and luxury cars.
“It's actually not the case at all,” Charnay Smith said.
Right out of the gate, her husband battled injuries his rookie season, meaning a decrease in pay. Players signed to the practice squad make a weekly salary between $13,000 and $22,000 and don’t get paid outside of the regular season — another thing the Smiths learned along the way.
“There's so many, like, small-print things that you don't realize until it happens to you,” she said.
- Charnay Smith, wife of NFL linebacker Tyreke Smith
