It\u2019s hard to not be excited and intrigued by the prospect of DeVonta Smith taking over as the Eagles\u2019 WR1.<\/p>\n
One person who\u2019s not excited or intrigued? DeVonta Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I’m just going out there and do my job,\u201d he said after OTA practice Tuesday. \u201cRegardless, however you want to look at it, one, two, three, four. End of the day, we all have jobs, and I\u2019ve got to go out there and do it. I’m going to do the same thing I’ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of how Smith is looking at this, with A.J. Brown gone, Smith will indeed assume the role of the Eagles’ No. 1 wide receiver.<\/p>\n
He held that role in 2021, the year before Brown arrived, and had 64 catches for 916 yards and five touchdowns, but he was a rookie playing under a 1st-year head coach.<\/p>\n
Smith is now entering his sixth season, and even though he\u2019s got three 1,000-yard seasons under his belt, this is a new role for the 27-year-old former 1st-round pick.<\/p>\n
Despite his own accomplishments, to a great extent Smith has spent the last four years in Brown\u2019s shadow. Brown\u2019s got the Pro Bowls, Brown\u2019s got the all-pros. Smith has just been a very consistent, reliable, clutch wide receiver.<\/p>\n
Now we\u2019ll get to see what he can do with presumably another 40 or so targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s always been a number one receiver,\u201d Jordan Mailata said. \u201cNothing has changed for Smitty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSmitty’s always led from the front. So that narrative, we can shut that down now because Smitty’s always led from the front. And just because he never wore that captain’s patch the last two years, didn’t mean that he wasn’t a captain in the locker room. But he always led from the front.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“And that’s why I’m calling it now. When he wears that captain’s patch this year, there’s no surprise. He’s always been a captain in my eyes, just from the way he’s led, the way he’s always gone about his business on and off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sounds like Mailata was predicting that Smith would be a team captain for the first time this year.<\/p>\n
It would be deserving. Nobody on the current roster has started more games as an Eagle than Smith, who\u2019s tied with Jalen Hurts with 78 starts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s quiet, but he leads by example with his preparation, his work ethic, his professionalism, his approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, he’s great, man,\u201d Quinyon Mitchell said. \u201cHe won the Heisman, he\u2019s a 1st-round pick, he comes in and always does his job. So he\u2019s going to be great (as No. 1).\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith rejects the title of No. 1 receiver because he knows his role could change depending on how the offense is attacking and depending on the opponent.<\/p>\n
There will be weeks Makai Lemon or Dontayvion Wicks may get more targets than he does. That\u2019s OK. He\u2019s not going to demand a trade if he\u2019s not the focus of the offense every week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m just going out there to do my job, whatever that may be for the week that we’re playing,\u201d he said. \u201cWhoever we’re playing, whatever the job may be for that week. I’m just trying to go out there and do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith was muted in his praise for new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion and his scheme, only because everything is still so new and the Eagles are just through five OTA practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to get the reps,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd right now, everybody’s still trying to get the flow of the offense, kind of still learning. So once we get that and then we start getting the flow, things will start clicking.\u201d<\/p>\n
How consistent has Smith been as a pro?<\/p>\n
He\u2019s one of only four players with at least 60 catches, 800 yards and four touchdown catches in each of the last five seasons. His 436 career receptions including postseason are 13th-most in NFL history by a player through Year 5. His 5,684 yards are 10th-most in the NFL since 2021.<\/p>\n
Now consider everything he\u2019s accomplished so far and factor in the increased production we all expect as he graduates to the No. 1 spot and it\u2019s scary to think just how good he can be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s 5,684 yards are the most in NFL history by a player through five seasons who never made a Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n
If he keeps doing what he\u2019s been doing, the honors and recognition will come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every year you want to be better than you were the last one,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be things you want to improve on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hard to not be excited and intrigued by the prospect of DeVonta Smith taking over as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6107,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-212456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-eagles-blog","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}