DeVonta

Smith

Smith has been out since Week 6, which was his first game back from a two-week absence. In the middle of a lost season, there’s no reason for the Eagles to rush their star receiver back. We don’t expect him to play this week and it’s possible he’s out for a while longer. Makai Lemon will likely operate as the team’s WR1 once again.

The Eagles continue to trudge on without key contributors as they enter Week 8 down their top two wide receivers and starting quarterback. Running back Saquon Barkley is active after being removed from the injury report Friday, with Elijah Mitchell and Jaydon Blue on hand for change of pace duties. Covey’s absence is primarily a hit to the Philadelphia special teams unit, who will continue to require alternate contributions to kick returns.

He has not practiced since Week 6. It’s hard to count on Smith to be up for Week 9, though we obviously can’t say anything beyond him being questionable. The Eagles have a Week 10 bye and it might be preferable for them at this point if Smith sat through that — though that is just our speculation.

Assuming there’s not a non-media practice portion that adds him to the report, Smith will enter Friday as fairly unlikely to play. We’ll see if he can get on the practice field on Friday. A limited session might get him on to the questionable line. Smith last practiced ahead of Week 6.

Both Smith and Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) were estimated DNPs for the Eagles’ walkthrough. Both players missed Week 7 against the Cowboys and start off on the wrong side of questionable to open Week 8. Smith and Wicks will need to at least get a limited practice session in before they can be considered as potential fantasy options against the Commanders. With Britain Covey (knee) also DNP, the receiving corps is sparse. If neither can go, Darius Cooper and Hollywood Brown get a boost from the WR group while TE Dallas Goedert becomes the No. 1 pass-catcher in the Eagles offense.

The Eagles will be without their top two receivers but got good news Saturday with the removal of Dallas Goedert from the injury report. Saquon Barkley is listed as questionable and appears to be a true game-time decision. Considering the low involvement of the backfield in the pass game this season, Goedert stands to benefit the most from the absences at wide receiver. He can be started as an upside TE1 in a solid on-paper matchup against the Cowboys.

Like Thursday, Smith was sidelined for Friday’s practice. The Eagles have been managing his practice reps and pulled him out for multiple drives in their Week 6 loss to the Panthers. The Eagles face the Cowboys on Monday night, giving Smith an extra day to rest. Consider him highly questionable to play at this time. McLane adds that Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) could also sit out this week.

The Eagles held Smith out for multiple drives in Week 6 against the Panthers, in his first game back from a multi-week hamstring injury. He was also dealing with a toe issue. The latter injury is now behind him, and we suspect that his day off today is just a veteran maintenance day. He should be good to go for the Eagles’ Week 7 game against the Cowboys on Monday night.

Smith was easily the focal point of the passing attack after coming back from injury. He saw the most targets of anybody on the team by six, but many of them were not catchable. However, Tanner McKee kept taking shots down the field, and he made a beautiful pass to Smith in the end zone for a touchdown. The game itself might not be pretty when McKee is under center, but it seems like Smith is going to see the volume to continue producing solid fantasy value. He’s a low-end WR2 in a good matchup against the Cowboys next week.

Smith sat out on Wednesday, but practiced in a limited capacity on Thursday before upgrading to full on Friday. Smith told media members earlier today that he is “good,” and that the toe injury is not an issue. Jalen Hurts (blood clot) is out indefinitely, so Smith will be working with pocket-passing backup Tanner McKee. The Panthers are currently without both of their starting perimeter cornerbacks. It might be a bit uncomfortable, but Smith is a WR2 in Week 6.