Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith Jr. was arrested and is now accused of driving 135 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone. Smith, a 2023 first-round pick, posted bond shortly after the arrest, and a court date has not yet been set.
The numbers landed fast, and they kept getting bigger—until they didn’t. In the hours after Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith Jr. was arrested for speeding and reckless driving, multiple accounts on social media circulated an alleged top speed of 137 miles per hour.
But the Twiggs County Sheriff’s Office put the figure in tighter focus on Wednesday. Smith was allegedly driving 135 miles per hour.
The charge carries a glaring mismatch with the road beneath him: Smith was driving in an area with a 70 mph speed limit. The arrest didn’t come with the kind of crash headlines that grab everyone’s attention. but the speed described is still staggering—fast enough that the margin for error all but disappears.
Smith, who was the Eagles’ 2023 first-round pick, posted bond shortly after the arrest. A court date has not been set.
The league has not yet moved with the urgency many fans and critics expect when an NFL player’s off-field driving behavior threatens public safety. The comparison that keeps coming up is Rashee Rice. Kansas City’s receiver. who was suspended six games for a street racing incident that resulted in multiple injuries. The outcome there wasn’t only about what happened—injuries— it was also about what was done. When someone is behind the wheel that fast. the difference between “nothing happened” and “someone gets hurt” can be brutally thin.
Right now, Smith’s case sits in that uncomfortable space between consequences that were avoided and the risk that wasn’t. If the NFL is going to set standards for player conduct outside the workplace, speeding at this level is the kind of behavior that demands more than a wait-and-see approach.
Nolan Smith Jr. Philadelphia Eagles speed limit Twiggs County Sheriff’s Office reckless driving NFL arrest 135 mph 70 mph bond posted court date not set