None of us will ever forget the adrenaline rush that came with the Philadelphia Eagles‘ announcement of DeVonta Smith’s selection. We’ll never forget where we were when he was on the receiving end of the “dagger” Jalen Hurts threw during Super Bowl 59. It has been more than seven years since Tua Tagovailoa hit him on 2nd and 26 during overtime of the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship. He’s a little older now. He isn’t much bigger. Our Skinny Batman… Our Slim Reaper… He keeps chugging along.
It’s hard to believe that DeVonta Smith enters year five as an Eagle. We’ve come a long way. His first reception doubled as his first TD vs. the Atlanta Falcons in the same Mercedes Benz Stadium in which he caught that pass from Tagovailoa years earlier. He set Philadelphia’s franchise rookie record for receiving yards (916). He has won a Super Bowl, catching the aforementioned “Dagger” in his home state of Louisiana,
Advertisement
Fast forward to the present, and Smith, now one of the elder statesmen on offense, is adding a helping hand wherever he can. Recently, a conversation about contested catches with head coach Nick Sirianni led to the introduction of a new drill he once ran as a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide while terrorizing the college football landscape en route to his second CFP National Championship and the Heisman Trophy.
Coach Sirianni spoke about this before the Eagles took the field for their fourth training camp practice since returning to the NovaCare Complex.
The next time you see Smith ‘Moss’ somebody. Remember, he works hard to be as good as and as talented as he is. As of this story’s release, he’s recovering from some tightness in his back, so he sat out of the aforementioned fourth training camp workout. Fear not. His absence was precautionary. All signs point to him being on the field and present for the regular-season Week 1 opener vs. the Dallas Cowboys.
Advertisement
This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: Philadelphia Crimson Tide connection sparks new drill at Eagles camp