As Torrey Smith prepares to face the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football, one strategy could be to chop off his dreadlocks.
It's something that has been on the Ravens wide receiver's mind a lot lately.
It was when Smith nearly broke loose for a touchdown against the Bengals on Nov. 20 at M&T Bank Stadium. The only thing that prevented it was cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones latching onto Smith's flowing locks.
Smith nearly put an end to that.
On August 22nd, he tweeted, "I think I might cut my dreads off soon."
That literally made my jaw drop.
On the morning of the final preseason game in St. Louis, Smith tweeted, "Spent 10 mins of my life taking pics of myself to see what I would look like without dreads haha."
So is he going to do it?
"I'm chickening out at the last second," Smith said.
It's not happening this year. Maybe afterwards.
To be clear, Smith's idea to cut his hair didn't have anything to do with playing the Bengals in Week 1. After all, last year's run-in was the only time that Smith has EVER been tackled by his dreads. So statistically speaking, it was about as likely as Joe Flacco becoming a mustache model.
It was more just a random thought that popped into Smith's well-covered head.
"I'm not tied to my hair," Smith said today during our super serious man-grooming interview.
The problem is everybody else is attached to Smith's hair.
After the tweets, a wave of Smith's followers tweeted at him not to go through with the snipping. His mother and grandmother are also quite fond of the long hair, and got on him about simply needing to get it re-twisted.
Smith talked to a few of his teammates, including running back Anthony Allen (who cut off his dreads last season), about the pros and cons. The best advice Smith got, he said, was that it could lead to an identity crisis.
"At this point, if I cut my hair nobody would know who I was," Smith said. "Around here, people are kind of obsessed."
So do* *the dreads define Smith? Well, he does sell these T-shirts through his foundation.
When Smith does eventually cut his hair, he said he wants to do it to benefit his foundation or some charity. He said his new style will be a normal low cut.
"You'd see my little peanut head," he said. "The last time I had a haircut I had a baby face – no facial hair. So when I do, it's going to be completely different."
I'm not sure whether I'm looking forward to it or dread-ing it. You?
