DeVonta Smith has third career 10-catch performance

Smith was largely a non-factor for the Eagles in Sunday’s win over the Commanders, but the newly minted WR1 did lead his team with six targets. Smith’s biggest play came in the third quarter when he broke free down the right sideline and hauled in a 31-yard catch that helped position the Eagles for an eventual field goal by Jake Elliott. Smith and the Eagles faced a good amount of resistance from a Commanders defense that looked better than expected. He’ll be firmly on the WR2 radar in what should be a plus matchup against the Titans next week.

Smith has missed more than a week of practice time, but on Monday, he was seen warming up on the sidelines in shoulder pads. We don’t know if Smith will be a full or limited participant, but his return in any capacity is an encouraging sign for the Eagles and fantasy managers.

While Smith’s injury isn’t believed to be serious, the Eagles are clearly taking their time with their new WR1. Smith has been sidelined for nearly a week and will remain on the sidelines to begin the third week of camp. If Smith can begin ramping things up closer to the start of the season, it will be safe to assume he’ll be good to go for Week 1.

Smith continues to miss practice with a hamstring injury. While the injury isn’t considered to be serious, the Eagles still aren’t going to push Smith in practice just yet. He figures to be the top target in the Eagles new offense under new OC Sean Mannion in the wake of the Eagles trading A.J. Brown this offseason.

It’s a blow to the Eagles as first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion uses training camp to install his system and ensure the team’s key players — including Lemon and Smith — are acclimated to the offense before the regular season. Hopefully the Eagles’ top two wideouts don’t miss much time with the soft tissue injuries. We can expect Eagles coaches to be cautious with Smith, the team’s new No. 1 receiver, and Lemon, who will likely play primarily from the slot in 2026. The Athletic’s Zach Berman said this week that the team “seems committed to finding ways to get [Lemon] the ball.”

It’s no surprise that Smith is expected to see more work in 2026. The team traded A.J. Brown to New England in the offseason and Makai Lemon won’t replace all of his vacated production as a rookie. All reports from the offseason have suggested that the Eagles believe Smith is ready to be a true No. 1 receiver, including these quotes from Sirianni. He noted that every time Smith has seen an uptick in opportunities, he’s taken advantage of them. As the top target-earner on an offense that should rebound this year, Smith has a chance at WR1 numbers if things break his way in 2026.

Under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, who will reportedly have “total authority” over the team’s offense, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles will have to learn an entirely new playbook predicated on the concepts that have made Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers and Sean McVay’s Rams two of the league’s most efficient offenses. This is very much in line with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie pledging in April that the team would implement “significant offensive changes” after a 2025 campaign in which they ranked 17th in EPA per play, in line with the Texans and Falcons. Depending on which version of the Shanny/McVay offense Mannion installs, Saquon Barkley could see more pass-game involvement while short-area pass catchers like Dallas Goedert and rookie Makai Lemon see plenty of looks from Hurts, who last year ranked 14th out of 45 qualifying quarterbacks in accuracy on short throws. In 2024, Hurts led all QBs in accuracy on attempts between 1-10 yards.

Smith’s backers “believe that if Brown were no longer with the team that Smith can have a similar jump in production that Jaxon Smith-Njigba had in Seattle once DK Metcalf was out of the way.” Smith NJigba, following an ordainry 2024 rookie campaign, blew up in 2025 to the tune of 1,992 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2025, with an elite 3.42 yards per route run, trailing only Puka Nacua. Brown is almost certain to exit Philadelphia in the coming weeks after a tumultuous 2025 season. That would open up targets for Smith, though the low-volume nature of the Eagles passing offense could be something of a damper on Smith’s statistical upside. Brown in 2025 was targeted on 28 percent of his routes while Smith saw a target on 23 percent of his routes, in line with Deebo Samuel and Troy Franklin.

Under head coach Nick Sirianni and new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, a former NFL quarterback, Lurie said the Eagles would make the tweaks necessary to bounce back after a down 2025 campaign. “This year, it was really apparent to everybody, but especially I would say to our head coach that we were able and going to make some significant offensive changes that would get us back to being a championship-level offense,” Lurie said. “We have our own proprietary metrics and ways of measuring offensive and defensive performance, and our offense was not what we were either accustomed to or expected of.” The usually-efficient Philadelphia offense last season ranked 17th in EPA per play, behind teams like the Commanders and Giants. Jalen Hurts’ passing efficiency fell off big time, as the Eagles were 15th in adjusted yards per pass attempt, in line with the Falcons and Texans.

Smith is coming off a 113-target season, which marks the second-most targets for him in a season. Berman writes that the Eagles believe they “can create an environment” for Smith to hit another level, with head coach Nick Sirianni saying getting Smith targets “is always going to be important.” The easiest path to Smith seeing more targets would be through an A.J. Brown trade, which may or may not happen. Regardless, any efforts to get Smith more involved could bode well for an offense that’s likely to take more shots through the air after ranking 24th in pass attempts last season.