As the 2026 NFL season approaches, questions arise about whether Devonta Smith has reached his peak with the Philadelphia Eagles, five years into his professional career. The Alabama All-American achieved 1,000 receiving yards for the third time in 2025, finishing with 77 receptions totaling 1,008 yards and four touchdowns. However, his averages for receptions, yards per game, and catch rate hit their lowest point since his rookie year, and his touchdown count was the smallest of his career.
Despite these statistics, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni remains confident that Smith is not plateauing but is continuing to improve and develop as a player. Sirianni addressed Smith’s trajectory during a press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine, emphasizing that the wide receiver’s abilities are still on an upward trend.
I think he continually gets better,
Sirianni said.
“I think you saw him have a great year this year, and, you know, even when a guy appears not to have as good a year, like, you’re always looking at it like: Is his arrow on the rise? Is his arrow on the fall? And even if a guy doesn’t have his best year, he still can be on the rise.”
– Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles Coach
Well, I think we saw DeVonta have a great year, and I think you just continue to see him play better and better. And I think that’s a tribute to who he is. Guys that are tough, that love football, that are smart football players and they’re talented have a tendency to reach their ceiling, and, God willing, I think that’s what you’re seeing. You can see him continue to get better. You’re seeing him continue to do these things and make plays that only he can make on the football field. And so I just think you continue to see him on the rise, and excited about what he’ll look like in this new offense that we’ll have.
– Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles Coach
Adjustments to Philadelphia’s Offensive Coaching Staff Ahead of 2026
Smith will enter the 2026 campaign working under the Eagles’ fifth offensive coordinator since joining the team. After the 2025 season, when Philadelphia ranked 19th in points scored and 24th in yards gained among NFL teams, head coach Sirianni replaced Kevin Patullo with Sean Mannion. Mannion brings a fresh perspective after two seasons of coaching, including serving as the quarterbacks coach for the Green Bay Packers in 2025.
Mannion, drafted in the third round in 2015, spent nine seasons playing in 14 regular-season NFL games before immediately transitioning into coaching. His experience as a former Oregon State quarterback informs his coaching approach and fits into the Eagles’ plans to invigorate their offense.
There’s a lot of steps to take place before we know exactly what version of offense this is going to be,
Sirianni explained.
“But, obviously, Sean comes from a family of coaches, and things that he’s done that we really respect that we know is tough to defend. We know we’ve done a lot of good things here as well as far as some of the things we’ve done that’s hard to defend. So being able to sprinkle some of that in, and a lot will be, you know, you got to go through the process with your players to get to all those answers again, and you’re constantly going to try to get to where you will be by the end of the season.”
– Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles Coach
But, really, it’s always important at the end of the day that we’re able to run the football, be able to do play-action off of that, play physical with relentless effort, play with great detail, play together. Those will be all things that we’re looking to do.
– Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles Coach
Devonta Smith’s Role in the Eagles’ Offense Moving Forward
Regardless of the offensive system’s final design, Devonta Smith remains a key figure in the Eagles’ strategy for success. Coach Sirianni emphasized Smith’s importance as a target in the team’s passing game and acknowledged the variability of his in-game opportunities based on the flow of each contest.
Getting DeVonta Smith the ball and getting him targets is always going to be important as long as he’s an Eagle to the success of our football team,
Sirianni said.
And so, you know, it’s just the way the season goes, the way the flow of a game goes. It’s important that he’s seeing targets every game because he does good things when he gets those things. So I don’t ever want to say, ‘Hey, this is the number. He needs to have this many targets.’ He needs to be able to affect the game each game and that number can change each game, each year based off of that.
– Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles Coach
With new offensive leadership and a return from Smith expected, the Philadelphia Eagles aim to strengthen their attack in 2026. Smith’s continued growth as a receiver will be vital to the team’s effort to improve their overall performance and competitiveness in the NFL.
