Philadelphia Eagles release DE Marcus Smith

Former 1st round pick Marcus Smith has been released just a few days into training camp.

The Eagles front office has been busy early into training camp. This afternoon word came down that veteran guard/tackle Allen Barbre was let go, but that wasn’t all. Former first round pick Marcus Smith has been given his walking papers in what was supposed to be his 4th season in the NFL, all with the Eagles.

Selected 26th overall out of Louisville, Smith was brought in as one of Chip Kelly’s head scratching draft picks. A player who was projected as a 2nd or 3rd round prospect whom Kelly decided to reach for. Kelly thought he could turn Smith into a Swiss army knife type outside linebacker/defensive end hybrid player.

Through his 3 year career with the Eagles, Smith was never able to crack the starting line up and only managed an atrocious stat line. 23 total tackles and just 4 sacks was all Smith compiled during his disappointing Eagles career. The Eagles could never quite find a position for Smith in the NFL, is he an outside linebacker? Is he a defensive end? Whatever Smith was supposed to be, he never ended up impressing anyone to garner a starting position.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but, it is hard to look back at the 2014 NFL draft and wonder what could have been. Seeing Deone Bucannon drafted 27th, Kelvin Benjamin drafted 28th and Derek Carr selected just 10 selections after Smith only makes the selection looks worse.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise though, Smith was one of Chip Kelly’s most scrutinized selections during his time with the Eagles and it may just be a matter of time before another Kelly question mark pick, Nelson Agholor receives his walking papers as well.

The Eagles defense wont be missing much as their defensive line is one of their strongest position groups. Chris Long, Timmy Jernigan and Derek Barnett have all been brought in to cement an already loaded group.

There were ups and downs with the Chip Kelly experiment, draft selections that are still having a positive impact on the team and many that couldn’t cut it. Marcus Smiths career seemed to be doomed the night commissioner Goodell read his name off the Eagles draft card. A player who will be quickly forgotten from Eagles fans that will always conjure up “what ifs”.

With Smith still being a young player another team will likely pick him up as rosters are set at 90 players right now although it will be something to watch if Smith ever sticks with another team.

Farewell Marcus Smith, we hardly knew you.