DeVonta Smith of the Philadelphia Eagles isn’t the type of person to go to the media and reveal the issues going on amidst the team. Unlike his wide receiver partner, A.J. Brown, Smith tends to keep to himself and do what’s best for the team.
Yet even after winning Super Bowl 57 and starting the season 4-0, there have been some problems brewing in Philly, and it mostly circled around Brown.
But now Smith is getting in on the action.
Prior to Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos, Smith was asked about how he felt about the drama surrounding Brown.
“He’s a great leader, and probably like most of the guys on this team, he wants what’s best for the team. Things aren’t exactly going our way offensively… I certainly feel the same way. Offensively, we need to be better and I think there’s nothing wrong with voicing that.”
Things got worse in Week 5, where the Broncos defeated the Eagles by the score of 21-17.
Both Smith and Brown were targeted a lot more from quarterback Jalen Hurts, with a combined 18 targets. Smith hauled in eight receptions for 114 yards, while Brown took in five receptions on 43 yards.
Regardless, the Eagles looked incredibly out of sync, and Smith wasn’t afraid to take his own advice and voiced his opinion.
"We made improvements in certain areas. We still could be a lot better. Shot ourselves in the foot a lot… There's times where we're looking at him (Hurts), and he may give a signal before or after we look, and ultimately we have to be on the same page. We have to see that signal no matter what. It was just little things within the routes. He may have seen something presnap and sometimes we didn't see it.”
When Hurts was asked about the concern that Smith had, he apparently “didn’t remember any of those things happening,” and that he would have to talk to Smith about what he was referring to.
Whatever may be going on in the Eagles locker room, it’s an absolutely terrible look that all their dirty laundry is being aired to the media.
Not only that, it’s even more concerning that Hurts essentially has no idea what Smith was talking about.
For a team that owns one of the best record in the NFL, it’s a bad omen for a team with championship aspirations that this is all coming out so early into the season.