DeVonta Smith is already a top-10 wide receiver. That’s nothing compared to where he’s headed.
At least that's what Darius Slay sees for the Eagles' third-year wide receiver.
Slay said after practice Tuesday he expects Smith to be the best wide receiver in the NFL before too long.
Not one of the best. Not almost the best. Not 2nd- or 3rd-best.
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The best.
“He got all the tools,” Slay said. “I told him, ‘You know, it ain't going to be too much longer we're going to be saying Smitty the best receiver in the league,’ for sure. It ain't gonna be too much longer.”
Smith ranked eighth last year among wide receivers with 1,196 yards, ninth with 95 catches and 12th with seven touchdowns. His 69.9 catch percentage was 8th-highest of 33 receivers with at least 100 targets.
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But over the last six weeks of the regular season, as the Eagles rolled to the No. 1 seed in the NFC, he averaged 98 yards per week – 2nd-best in the NFL behind teammate A.J. Brown’s 111.
Smith followed that with 197 yards in the postseason, and then became the 7th-youngest player ever with 100 receiving yards in a Super Bowl.
“I'm not gonna put a crazy (expectation) on him, but he's got that type of ability to be that kind of guy,” Slay said. “He could continue to keep doing what he's doing and growing as a player, which I know he would. Yeah, it ain't gonna be too much longer than that. We're gonna have the best two, for sure.”
Slay has been working in practice against Smith for two years now, and he’s most impressed with his next-level route running.
“It’s elite,” said Slay, a five-time Pro Bowl cornerback. “I've been telling him since he's been a rookie, man, he's way ahead of his class. And his route running ability, I told him the other day, ‘Man, you're a guy that I've never seen before that can like adjust like that in the middle of pressing, hard press, motor catching, all that.’
“He got the body and the control to adjust to anything. One time, I think we did a 1-on-1 drill. He ran a seven cut (corner route). I covered it very well, you know what I'm saying? But then he just acrobatic, catch it behind (him).”
Brown and Smith last year became only the second duo in NFL history with at least 85 yards and 1,150 yards before their 26th birthday, the first since Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin of the Cards in 2005.
Smith’s 2,112 yards are the most in franchise history by a player in his first two years, and his 62.1 yards per game is 7th-highest in franchise history, ahead of people like Hall of Famers Pete Pihos and Harold Carmichael and a fraction of a yard behind Hall of Famer Tommy McDonald, who he'll likely catch this year.
With his refined route running, remarkable body control, surprising toughness for his slight frame and sticky hands, Smith has everything it takes for Slay’s prediction to come true.
“Then, with A.J. pushing him, man, he’s learned so much from A.J., from A.J. doing this and doing that, it’s just like it’s destined for him,” Slay said.
“A.J. is doing a great job leading him because A.J. is by far elite as hell, too. So he’s got a good thing going. So by the time he get all crazy, I'm gonna be sitting back at home watching him like, 'I knew. I told myself that.’”
