Now hear me out before you down vote.
Devonta is a great player, a top 15 wide receiver in the league. In that regard, he’s going to want to get paid. A lot.
We are already paying AJ Brown a lot of money, so the odds of us paying two recievers big money seems slim, but not impossible. So there’s a few possibilities that could happen:
1: We pay Devonta what he deserves, which means our WR room will be elite for years to come, but that might cut into paying talent from other positions.
2: We let him play out his contract and he can test the FA market.
3: Use the 5th year option/franchise tag.
4: Trade him for a haul this offseason to a WR needy team.
In my opinion, unless he’s willing to sign a cheaper than expected deal to stay in Philly, I would rather go with option 4. It’ll hurt to see him go, but we can definitely get a 1st and then some for him that we could use to beef up other positions of need like CB, DE, and OL.
I think there is something to be said of his fit here. I think devonte smith is most like a j brown and devonte smith. Both of whom have a lot of success with option routes as much as I love jalen he seems to really struggle when it comes to being on the same page as wrs when it comes to these plays. Devonte could have more production on more targets and our offense should does and will run through a j brown. But he is really talented and productive here
A lot of what makes our team great is holding onto talent we draft, especially high character guys who can consistently do the right thing. He already brings a lot to our offense, and his chemistry with jalen will grow. Also, his blocking does enable a fair amount of what we do. I think that his work ethic and focus help keep a j brown on a track for success.
Howie doesn’t tend to let talented people who he drafted walk away at positions he values (not rb lb or safety) I hope he continues this trend and locks up smitty on a well deserved long term deal. I also think that by consistently giving long-term deals and extensions to players he drafted and can feel confident will succeed he gets a much lower average per year. If I am a recently drafted eagle and I see long term vets consistently having an offer to come back as an eagle (aside from ertz tragically) I would rather sign here for a longer contract than somewhere else on a 3 year deal that turns into a 2 year deal after if i have 1 bad year and I end up with much less security.