The Next Great Duo: AJ Brown & Devonta Smith
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - (PSF) Last April, the Philadelphia Eagles made a franchise-altering move. On the draft's first day, Howie Roseman traded the 18th and 101st overall picks to the Tennessee Titans for A.J. Brown. Immediately after being traded, Brown signed a new deal with Philadelphia. The deal was for a four-year, $100 million contract that included $57 million guaranteed. Brown still had another year on his deal, but Tennessee didn’t think he was worth the big bucks.
Photo by: Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Looking back, it’s safe to say that Tennessee regrets the decision it made. In his first season with the Eagles, Brown caught 88 receptions, totaled 1,496 yards, and had 11 touchdowns. Reminder, this was all done while playing with a new quarterback in Jalen Hurts as well. If you put Brown on 90% of all teams in the NFL, he would surely be the team’s number-one receiver. Of course in most offenses, the number-one receiver gravitates a lot of defensive help due to them being the best pass catcher. This only benefits the players around the number one, they all get better.
Photo by: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
One player that greatly benefited from Brown’s role was Devonta Smith. Smith was the number-one receiver in 2021, this was mostly due to him being the team’s first-round pick, also he was the most talented receiver on the roster by far at the time. In 2021, Smith caught 64 receptions for 916 yards while catching five touchdowns. Not a bad year for a rookie, if I say so myself. In his second year, Smith vastly improved. In 2022, he caught 95 receptions for 1,196 yards and caught seven touchdowns. The main reason Smith excelled in 2022 was due to how much pressure was taken off him and placed on Brown. Smith realistically could start for another team and be their best pass catcher, instead, he’s in a situation with Brown where both players are seen as the teams 1A and 1B. Brown commands so much respect that opposing teams have to gameplan for him, this results in the number two corner covering Devonta. I can confidently say that I would take Smith against any team’s second-best corner, he is just too good but teams need to compromise between him or Brown.
Photo by: Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia looks to have a fruitful future in the upcoming years. Regardless of what happens with the rest of the team, I trust this offense to continue to succeed due to Hurts, Brown, and Smith being on the Eagles for years to come.
