Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is adjusting to life without one of his best offensive weapons, but it doesn't sound like he's too worried. Brown was traded to the New England Patriots in June, removing a player who has amassed at least 1,000 yards in six of his seven NFL seasons. Speaking with SiriusXM, Sirianni indicated that the Eagles will be just fine without Brown, largely because they have another target who's a top receiver in the sport: DeVonta Smith.
"Obviously, DeVonta is a No. 1 [receiver]," Sirianni said. "We've thought that DeVonta was the No. 1 receiver since the day we drafted him." Smith, who's played all five of his seasons thus far in Philadelphia, has indeed produced strong numbers, including three seasons over 1,000 receiving yards. This past season, he even edged out Brown, 1,008 yards to 1,003.
As Sirianni pointed out, though, that didn't affect how the Eagles treated Smith. "Now, last year, he had more yards than A.J. but in other years he hasn't. But we treat him as a No. 1 receiver in how we try to plan him and get him the ball, last year and the years before that, and also moving forward." Given what Sirianni said, it sounds like the Eagles won't be changing much in how they approach Smith, but with Brown's absence, he should certainly get some more targets from quarterback Jalen Hurts, given that the next two best wideouts are rookie Makai Lemon out of USC and the newly acquired Dontayvion Wicks, who had only 332 receiving yards last year.
"It's gonna be exciting the more opportunities DeVonta gets because I know when we throw the ball to DeVonta, good things happen," Sirianni said. "It'll be fun to watch him come out and have a great year." If Smith can indeed take a further step with those opportunities, and if other offensive stars like tight end Dallas Goedert and running back Saquon Barkley can remain healthy, the Eagles have a great chance to return to their Super Bowl-winning form of two seasons ago. If any part of that formula fails, though, they could be in for another season of offensive frustration.
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