While A.J. Brown has garnered an appropriate amount of hype for his impressive on-field play and limitless ceiling as the Philadelphia Eagles’ first true number one wide receiver in ages, one player who has largely been overlooked through the summer of 2022 has been DeVonta Smith, the team’s reigning rookie receiving yards leader.
Call it a byproduct of being quiet, reserved, and not overly online, but Smith’s second summer with Philly has largely flown under the radar, with his fantastic on-field efforts being overshadowed by those of Brown and Jalen Reagor for very different reasons, with his charity softball game serving as the biggest highlight of the summer.
And yet, when Smith found himself going up against the Cleveland Browns’ defensive backs instead of James Bradberry, suddenly the impressiveness of his on-field efforts come roaring back into the forefront.
That’s right, as our friends over at Inside the Iggles profiled here, Smith absolutely dominated at the Eagles’ joint practice period with the Browns, forcing Greedy Williams to commit DPI when he couldn’t shut his opponent down, and getting into a verbal war of words with 2021 fifth round pick Richard LeCounte; a confrontation that Nick Sirianni ended by saying, “don’t worry about it Smitty! (The) last time you saw him, you won the Heisman!”
This ability to give opposing defensive backs fits in a subtle way, without Brown’s flashy style, has even taken his teammates aback, with Dallas Goedert comparing his teammate to Casper the Friendly Ghost for his ability to shimmy past the press and disappear.
Will this new nickname, “DeVonta the Friendly Ghost,” actually stick? Only time will tell, but with Smith now firmly thrust into the role of WR2, the Eagles have a chance to run a dynamic offensive where both sides of the field are very much in play.