Philadelphia Eagles: What if the Panthers had drafted DeVonta Smith?
By David Esser
Post NFL Draft leaks and rumors are always super fun, and a rather intriguing one dropped Friday afternoon involving the Philadelphia Eagles.
According to DeVonta Smith himself on a recent podcast episode with Chris Long, the Carolina Panthers were actually the team he expected to draft him this past weekend:
“I thought Carolina was going to draft me. That’s who I thought. I knew of course the Giants, but it was all about, You have to get to 11. I knew if I was there at 11, I was for sure going to the Giants.”
We all know by now that the New York Giants were heavily interested in the Heisman winning pass-catcher, but hearing that Carolina was at least expressing some level of commitment to Smith is rather interesting. The Panthers look pretty set at WR on face value with both Robby Anderson and D.J. Moore on the roster, but this is the same team that went and snagged LSU’s Terrace Marshall in the second round.
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So it’s definitely reasonable to assume that the Panthers were looking to add WR help for newly acquired quarterback Sam Darnold.
The Philadelphia Eagles draft would’ve looked a lot different had the Panthers snagged DeVonta Smith.
The Panthers ultimately selected CB Jaycee Horn with their first-round pick, but had they not, things would be looking a whole lot different for the Eagles right about now.
If the Panthers had pulled the trigger on DeVonta Smith at 8, then Horn/Surtain II would have made it down to 10, allowing the Cowboys to simply draft themselves a new #1 cornerback as opposed to trading back and selecting LB Micah Parsons. The Giants would have executed their trade-back with Chicago since Smith is still off the board in this hypothetical scenario, leaving the Philadelphia Eagles stuck at pick 12.
Someone like Rashawn Slater likely would have been the pick in this scenario, or Howie Roseman and the Eagles could have performed their own respective trade back if they were hell-bent on leaving the first round with a new wide receiver.
Guys like Kadarius Toney and Rashod Bateman both flew off the board a little bit later in the first round.
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Ultimately speaking, the Panthers obviously didn’t draft DeVonta Smith and the Eagles did. It’s unclear if this is a decision Carolina will regret in the long run, but at least for the time being, it looked like they were more focused on improving defensively with their first-round pick as opposed to adding another top-tier receiver to the mix.