November 04, 2022
The Eagles, for once, played second fiddle to the Phillies for many of the region's sports fans Thursday night.
The Birds took care of business, winning a sloppy 29-17 road game against the Texans, to improve to a franchise-record 8-0 on the season. The Phillies came up a run short against the Astros in Game 5 of the World Series, falling behind 3-2 as the Fall Classic heads back to Houston this weekend.
Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman is getting a lot of NFL Executive of the Year buzz, and rightly so. Five seasons after building Philadelphia's first Super Bowl-winning roster, his aggressive offseason moves have catapulted the team into the league's elite ranks again. In those five years, fans endured a 4-11-1 season, a beloved head coach's firing and the trade of Carson Wentz, which helped provide some of the draft capital needed to quickly retool the Eagles into a serious contender, with the kind of deft maneuvers you only see orchestrated by Roseman.
All of this, and Howie still will never, ever stop hearing about draft busts like Jalen Reagor and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, who should be complete afterthoughts at this moment. Are these guys on his report card? Sure, but Roseman has done more than enough to be viewed as one of the Eagles' best assets, until further notice.
Prior to the start of Thursday night's game, Roseman was on the field at NRG Stadium and noticed an Eagles fan carrying a sign. The fan was surrounded by other Eagles roadsters who had broken into a "Howie!" chant. The fan's sign said, "Howie, You Are Forgiven! # A.J. Brown" ... and then listed the above draft busts along with wide receiver Nelson Agholor. (For the record, Agholor was drafted while Chip Kelly was at the helm, and despite struggling during his time in Philly, was a positive contributor here, on balance).
Roseman approached the Eagles fans and — in what seemed to be a mostly playful spirit — put the guy holding the sign in his place.
Yep haha . Howie came and talked to us😂 legendary pic.twitter.com/BIlFuhi7Mi
— holly (@xoholly) November 3, 2022
Philly Howie said you’re welcome for your first SB😂🦅 GO BIRDS @Eagles the best pic.twitter.com/zqg8iqDV9n
— holly (@xoholly) November 3, 2022
"I'm f***ing forgiven for your first f***ing Super Bowl?" Roseman said. "F*** you! Let's f***ing go! F*** you!"
Good for Howie. Screwing some things up is part of being a GM, but what separates Roseman from the pack, in recent years, is that he learns from his mistakes and moves swiftly to correct them. He's arguably the most active front office figure in the NFL. He has this team stacked with players who want to be in Philadelphia. In 2022, Roseman has every right to tell this fan where to shove his sign.
For the second straight week, DeVonta Smith was mostly quiet on the stat sheet. Over the last two games, Smith has seven receptions for 45 yards and no touchdowns on 10 targets. He's got four games this season with fewer than 5 fantasy points and four with more than 10 points, including a breakout performance in Week 3 against Washington.
It's not his problem if you drafted him and sat him that week because you didn't trust him, only to be disappointed whenever he gets lost in an efficient offense with other stars to feed.
Smith, who probably saw his mentions blow up on social media due to another crappy fantasy showing, let the world know how fantasy football rates among his priorities.
Preach DeVonta Smith. #Eagles #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/Gf1yTgM07u
— Jeff Kerr (@JeffKerrCBS) November 4, 2022
A similar thing came up this week with Falcons' wide receiver-turned-running back Cordarrelle Patterson, who's making his way back from injured reserve.
.@ceeflashpee84 says he feels about 90 % . He says he knows a lot of fans are messaging him about fantasy football while he’s been out, but he says it’s not about FF it’s about how he’s feeling. No one ever dm’s him asking him if he’s okay. #dirtybirds #NFL pic.twitter.com/14NOAByoNG
— Alison Mastrangelo (@AlisonWSB) November 2, 2022
Smith has shown his elite talent through his first two seasons — not every game, but often enough to be obvious. Do you know who else did that early on? Dallas Goedert, who had to wait in the wings behind Zach Ertz. Goedert is now a focal point of the Eagles' passing attack with A.J. Brown — and Smith, for that matter, who has a respectable 40 catches for 442 yards and two touchdowns on 53 targets. Brown has 43 catches for 718 yards and six touchdowns on 69 targets, while Goedert has 40 catches for 521 yards and two touchdowns on 50 targets.
It's funny when fantasy football players blame one guy for not delivering on any given week, as if it's not their own fault for failing to build a team that can withstand one or even two players scoring fewer than five or six points. Smith is best played this year for risky upside on an otherwise sturdy fantasy team, with enough of a typical, weekly target share to feel fine with the decision to start him regardless of the bad weeks.
The Eagles don't always rush their recent draft picks into massive roles. When they've tried with other wide receivers, it often has led to disappointment. Smith is a tier above anyone the Eagles have drafted at the position in years, and right now, he's doing his part to move the chains and make the big plays when they're available. The team's acquisition of Brown wasn't just about getting a big-bodied star of his caliber for Jalen Hurts. It was also about maximizing the long-term value of the 10th overall pick spent on Smith and the scheme Nick Sirianni can build with Smith in the fold. Give him time. He'll have his volume games, but if you've been banking on DeVonta Smith being your fantasy WR2 this season, rather than a WR3 or a flex, you took a gamble on his ceiling that's giving you mixed results.
Meanwhile, Smith is on an 8-0 team in real life and doesn't miss games because he's healthy, which beats the hell out of being a weekly fantasy stud for a mob of internet strangers who don't even root for the Eagles.
