Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith makes a memorable return to practice

It didn’t take DeVonta Smith long to ensure his return to Eagles practice was a memorable one.

As Smith entered the soft spot of the Eagles’ zone coverage early in practice, quarterback Jalen Hurts threw him a jump ball between Zech McPhearson and a closing Avonte Maddox. Both defensive backs rose up to contest the pass, but Maddox and McPhearson collided as Smith caught the ball and ran it in for a touchdown.

“It was just, ‘Go make a play,’” Smith said of the catch. “They came out and played Cover 2, they came out, they were in the right spot. It just came down to making the play.”

The play was one of many for Smith, who had one of his best practices of the summer. It came on his first day back from a groin injury that’s held him out since Aug. 4.

The offense ran mostly through star wideout A.J. Brown in the early part of training camp and got even more Brown-centric in Smith’s absence, but the second-year receiver got plenty of targets on Sunday.

Smith said there wasn’t a concerted effort for him to get the ball more, even though there was a noticeable uptick in his usage.

“I wouldn’t say it was the plan,” Smith said. “Just the coverages the defenses played, I just happened to be in a position where the ball was coming to me.”

This is the second straight training camp in which Smith has missed some time with a lower-body injury. The 2020 Heisman Trophy winner missed about two weeks of the preseason with an MCL sprain last summer but went on to have a productive rookie year.

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Smith had 64 catches for 916 yards and five touchdowns last season as the Eagles’ No. 1 receiver. The 23-year-old said he’s found ways to make the most of practice time even when sidelined with an injury.

“When you’re out, you’re still here,” Smith said. “You’re still seeing everything, you’re still doing everything with the team. You’re out, but you’re not out.

“You still gotta be engaged,” Smith added. “When you come back, things are going to be faster because you haven’t been out there in so long.”

Between Smith, Brown, and Quez Watkins, the Eagles have a trio of receivers that can each play from multiple alignments, which is something coach Nick Sirianni values. Of the three guys, Watkins spends the most time in the slot, but both Smith an Brown have worked out of the slot during practice.

“We all create space for each other,” Smith said. “All of us being out there, everybody being able to play every position, everybody being able to do everything, it makes it hard for defenses to just focus on one guy.”

Before the injury, Smith spent the majority of his time working against Eagles cornerback James Bradberry. His quiet start to the summer could be interpreted as a promising sign for Bradberry, who has been a standout of camp thus far, but Smith said he’s benefited from the matchup.

“Seeing a more physical corner, a bigger corner just helps me more,” Smith said. “Instead of somebody like Slay, who is just fast and very instinctive — two different guys, two great guys. They’re both completely different. [We’re] able to have that balance of one corner being real fast and the other corner being real physical.”

After missing the team’s 24-21 preseason loss to the New York Jets on Friday, there’s a chance Smith’s next game action will be against the Detroit Lions in Week 1.

Sirianni said he hadn’t made any decisions on whether the starters would play in Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, but hinted they could get the game off if joint practices in the days prior to the game go well.

“We are going to be in those joint practices and those will be two hard days of work,” Sirianni said. “If I feel like they have gotten enough in those joint practices and I feel like the work that we needed to get done, we’ll play everything by ear. But if I feel like that, then I wouldn’t play them in those games.”