Top 25 Most Important Eagles in 2026: DeVonta Smith ready to take on much bigger role
Barrett Brooks and Ashlyn Sullivan react to DeVonta Smith's placement on Dave Zangaro's list of the most important players for the upcoming season.
Top 25 Most Important Eagles in 2026: DeVonta Smith ready to take on much bigger role originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Video Transcript
It is time to continue our countdown of the top 25 most important Eagles.
And coming in number four today, a guy who is talking on some importance of the birds this season, wide receiver DeVonta Smith.
Barrett, this is the highest DeVonta has ever been on our list, without AJ Brown.
Hey, we get why.
This is the guy that is gonna have to lead this offense in the wide receiver room, but he's up for the challenge.
Oh, definitely up for the challenge.
And everybody's wondering, can he handle being a number one receiver?
He's been a number one receiver.
Can he do it alone without AJ?
He's done it without AJ before.
I just don't understand it.
Yes, he's six foot.
They say he's 170 pounds, but he picked up some weight in this off-season.
It looked like he put a little more muscle on.
I mean, just because he knows he's gonna have to go out there and be the guy.
So I, I mean, I think he'll be okay.
He's probably sitting around 180 now.
But the biggest thing is, what hasn't he done?
He's been a Heisman Trophy winner.
He's won two national championships.
He's been to two Super Bowls.
He's won a Super Bowl.
He's done everything that you want to be one of the most impactful players in this offense.
He's by far, you know, somebody that I don't have to worry about him being ready to play.
He will be there.
But I mean, just how gifted and talented he is, his route running, how he creates separation, his body control, the way he can go out, you know, almost lean out of bounds and still complete the catch.
Yeah.
His hands.
He's done everything the right way.
Why are we questioning him?
There's no way we should be question- The way he goes up and get 50/50 balls.
Yeah, he's supposed to be the Slim Reaper.
He's supposed to be small and fat.
No, he plays like he's 20 or 30 pounds heavier than, than what he is.
I mean, there's no question he's gonna be a great player.
Great, great player.
Especially, he's done it before.
Yes.
We talked about it with AJ Brown being injured.
Here's a look at what Smitty has done in each of his five seasons with the Eagles.
So you see these numbers.
We know he's gonna take on a bigger responsibility, bigger role.
What kind of production do we expect from him this year?
The same production I've been seeing.
I mean, he's averaging, you know, when you take all those and average them together, he, he's averaging over 1,000 yards.
But what I see in his production, it's gonna be different from what we've seen.
We gotta understand, AJ Brown, when he was here, I'd say 65 to 68% of the play calling that were pass plays were geared towards him getting the ball.
But yet, still, Smitty was out there making it happen.
Now he's gonna get those catches.
They're gonna be re- calling offense around him, and he's got the skillset to do it
