Larry Henry Jr
Hitting the ground running as a young wide receiver in the NFL could be tough, but for DeVonta Smith, he has come out in a full sprint.
Smith enters his fourth NFL season with the Philadelphia Eagles, fresh off his second-straight 1,000+ yard haul. The former Heisman trophy winner and University of Alabama standout has performed in his first three seasons exactly how you would want a first round draft pick to perform.
The “slim reaper” as he is called by many of his Eagle teammates, has totaled 3,178 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns since his league debut, ranking among the top 20 productive NFL wideouts over that span. His 240 catches from 2021-23 are also good for the 19th most in the NFL.
In addition, Smith has made himself a consistent threat in the Eagles offense, even as a No. 2 option behind AJ Brown.
Stellar production earned Smith a new three-year, $75 million extension with the Eagles earlier this April, taking his contract through the 2028 season. This added with Brown’s three-year, $96 million extension, shows the Eagles commitment to having the best 1-2 receiving pair in the NFL for years to come.
The 25-year-old is gearing up to have another productive campaign in midnight green this season and head coach Nick Sirianni praised him for being well prepared in the team’s current training camp.
“Yeah, DeVonta is in great shape,” Sirianni told media. “Always seems like he’s in great shape. He can run all day. You know, DeVonta, whatever his 40 speed is, I know he didn’t run it coming out, but it’s the same play one, play 10, play 15, play 30. He’s always in really good shape, he looks super quick in and out of breaks. He works so hard about how to get in and out of breaks, because that’s where the game is won.
“If you’re playing press man to man, the game is won at the line of scrimmage where you shake off the defensive back and at the top of the route separating, and he’s really shown a good job there,” Sirianni added. “He catches everything, right? He actually dropped, as you guys saw, the first one of camp, but that’s rare for him. He just catches everything. The major requirement for the position is catch the football, right, and he does that at an extremely high level.
“His football IQ, seeing what’s coming and how to attack a route, how to set up a defensive back,” Sirianni continued. “He can play the game in the slot, he can play the game on the outside. You saw that catch he made against [CB] Kelee [Ringo] where he went up and got the ball. He’s had really nice camp and he’s just going to continue to get better. DeVonta, I can’t say enough good things about DeVonta and the type of player and person he is.”
The Eagles will expect to have Smith healthy and confident as the push for a second Super Bowl title in seven years.
You can follow Larry Henry on Twitter (@lhenry019) and e-mail him at [email protected].
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Again, it’s a good group, one of the best groups I’ve had 1 through 13 in my time in the NFL, and they all bring different and I’ll be excited to see how that plays out as we go through the rest of camp.