Eagles’ Nolan Smith is ‘bigger, faster, stronger’ after powering up with Southern California offseason training
Drinking an expensive smoothie, chopping it up with Aaron Rodgers, and training for his sophomore NFL season are some of the things Smith spent his time doing this offseason in the Los Angeles area.
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Before his first NFL offseason dragged on too long, Nolan Smith wanted to go to a place where he’d stick out like a sore thumb.
So after about six weeks of rest and rehab, the Eagles’ 23-year-old edge rusher — with his Georgia drawl and Southern hospitality — ventured off to the Los Angeles area to find comfort in the uncomfortable.
“I go to L.A. because I don’t fit in,” Smith said Monday. “I don’t fit in out there, and I don’t want to fit in. I can just go work out and go to the hotel and look at the playbook.”
Smith trained at Proactive Sports Performance in Westlake Village, where he spent time around Aaron Rodgers, enjoyed some “isolation,” and once spent $34 on a smoothie.
“When you open the door for somebody out there, they almost step back and look at you crazy,” Smith said. “I’ll be like, ‘Welp, OK.’ I say, ‘Yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am,’ and they just look at you crazy. But I don’t like to fit in, that’s why I go out there. I’ll be by my lonesome. You feel like you’re on an island, just working.”
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Returning to a more familiar environment, Smith embarks on an important second season with the Eagles, in which he’s expected to take on a bigger role in the team’s pass-rushing rotation. The 2023 first-round pick played just 16% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps last year and logged one sack, struggling to earn significant playing time while also dealing with a shoulder injury suffered during the preseason.
Although Josh Sweat and free-agent signing Bryce Huff sit ahead of him as the two presumptive starting edge rushers, Smith projects as one of the two key reserves at the position along with Brandon Graham and has gone into training camp working with the first and second teams. During Monday’s practice, Smith pressured quarterback Jalen Hurts on consecutive plays, getting past fill-in right tackle Fred Johnson for a “sack” and flushing Hurts out of the pocket the next snap.
Fresh off arguably his strongest practice of training camp, Smith said Tuesday’s session — when the Eagles put on pads for the first time this summer — is the one he’s actually been looking forward to the most.
“We’re putting them thangs on tomorrow, and I’m excited. I can’t wait,” Smith said. “That will really help my game, you know, speed to power. I’m working speed right now, but the power element is part of that.”
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Smith’s speed off the edge is what made him a highly touted prospect, but his ability to combine it with power remains a work in progress. Listed at 6-foot-2, 238 pounds, Smith said he spent the offseason working to add weight and revealed that he gained “about 7 pounds” of muscle to help him hold up against offensive linemen who can sometimes outweigh him by 100 pounds.
“It’s a Georgia motto: You get bigger, faster, stronger every year,” Smith said. “That’s something that I took from [Georgia coach Kirby] Smart. That’s something I took for myself.”
Smith also sought mentorship from Rodgers, although the New York Jets veteran quarterback wasn’t always forthcoming to a potential competitor. He said Rodgers gave him “a little bit of wisdom,” but their most meaningful conversations revolved around rappers and the discrepancy between the former Georgia standout and the 40-year-old quarterback.
“We just started talking about age and DMX and rap music,” Smith said. “He said, ‘Yeah, I used to listen to real rap.’”
Tuesday’s padded practice will be the first time Smith gets a chance to truly use the extra size he added in a meaningful capacity. He conceded his successful rushes against Johnson — who was filling in for a sidelined Lane Johnson on Monday — came with effective hand usage and bend around the edge more than anything.
When the time does come on Tuesday, Smith said he has a plan.
“Get under somebody’s chin,” Smith said. “You ever heard of that? You know what that means? That’s how you work on the power, you just get under somebody’s chin and work everything else off of that. Power sets up everything else.”