A.J. Brown’s addition is great for the Eagles but what does it mean for DeVonta Smith?
The Eagles offseason was hectic, but that’s not to say it wasn’t a good one. On the defensive side of the ball, Philadelphia improved its pass rush depth by signing Haason Reddick and drafting Jordan Davis. The signing of Kyzir White and addition of Nakobe Dean via this year’s draft bolstered a linebacker room that desperately needed the help. The Eagles’ secondary also got better with the team trading for Saints safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. But the biggest move the Eagles made this offseason was when the team traded its 18th overall pick and a third-round selection for star wideout A.J. Brown to pair with second-year receiver DeVonta Smith.
Eagles’ fans everywhere were immediately excited at the thought of having Brown and Smith line up at the same time. But after a Week 1 win versus Detroit, fans are realizing that they may not be the dynamic duo many thought they would be. In a game in which the Eagles offense scored 31 points — a pick six being the one scoring exemption — on the back of 455 total yards, Smith had a whopping zero catches on only four targets while Brown hauled in 10 catches for 155 yards on 14 targets.
Philadelphia head coach Nick Sirianni poked fun at the situation saying:
“‘Oh my goodness, they are never going to use DeVonta Smith again,'” Sirianni said, alluding to the possible concerns from Eagles fans.
Quote via Yahoo! Sports
And while Sirianni is clearly joking here, the fact still remains that in a game in which the Eagles scored 31 offensive points, their second-year standout receiver failed to bring in one catch. So, what exactly happened? It wasn’t as if the Lions were playing amazing defense and Jalen Hurts for the most part looked good and comfortable throwing the ball downfield. Sirianni attempted to explain the cause for the minimal targets stating:
“Him, A.J. and Dallas are who the offense will run through, who the pass offense will run through, and it just was the perfect storm (Sunday) where he didn’t get any touches,” Sirianni said.
Quote via Yahoo! Sports
So, while Sirianni clearly wants to get Smith more involved in the offense, it may simply be a case of there being too many mouths to feed with only one football. It’s no help for him either that the Eagles boast one of the best rushing attacks in their NFL averaging a league-leading 156 rushing yards per game last year which saw them earn a very surprising playoff bid. And Sunday’s game was no different with the Eagles racking up 216 total yards on the ground.
Sirianni ended the press conference on a more optimistic note.
“We have to (involve him) because you never want to be one-dimensional and let them say, ‘Hey, we are taking this away or taking that away,'” Sirianni said. “DeVonta Smith is not a good playmaker, (he’s) a great playmaker. I think everybody in this city saw that last year.”
Quote via Yahoo! Sports
There is a clear desire for the Eagles to get Smith the ball more often, and with the connection he and Hurts have had since their Alabama days, I don’t think it’ll take much for these two to get back in sync. While Smith might not have the huge breakout season Eagles fans were expecting as a result of the Brown addition, I think it’s safe to assume that there won’t be too many more games where we see DeVonta Smith finish without a catch. At least I sure hope so…
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