Aug 16, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Ainias Smith (82) makes a touchdown catch against the Cleveland Browns during the second quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Eagles' Messaging With Metchie Trade Is Business As Usual In The NFL

Originally posted on Philadelphia Eagles on SI
By John McMullen | Last updated Aug 19, 2025 5:42 PM ET

One thing C.J. Gardner-Johnson explained in the offseason after his second exit from Philadelphia is that the playmaking safety wasn’t the most popular guy in the room when he first arrived via trade on Aug. 30, 2022, from New Orleans.

Gardner-Johnson went to the front of the line when it came to the incumbent safeties on board who had competed throughout the summer.

But that’s life in the NFL, a bottom-line, performance-based business. GM Howie Roseman thought his team wasn't good enough at the position and decided to try to make things better which is exactly what happened with CJGJ that season.

Gardner-Johnson tied for the NFL lead in interceptions that season despite missing five games and helped one of the league's better defenses to an NFC championship before coming up just short of Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII.

The same kind of move has already happened twice this summer with Roseman putting Adoree’ Jackson, Kelee Ringo, and Eli Ricks on notice at cornerback by trading with Las Vegas for Jakorian Bennett on Aug. 5.

This week, Roseman was back at it, dealing for wide receiver John Metchie from Houston and turning what looked like a positive summer for Ainias Smith and undrafted rookie Darius Cooper into a potentially gray future.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo was asked about the message the Metchie deal meant for some of the younger receivers before practice on Tuesday.

"Yeah, I mean that's part of the business,” Patullo bluntly and correctly assessed. “But I think really when a guy comes in late like [Metchie] did, we have this situation where those other guys need to understand, ‘I still have another week to prove myself.’

“‘I got to continue to work through this and do the best that I can.’”

Control what you can control is the mantra of the NFL and players like Smith and Cooper were always going to be fighting for a job, whether the competition was in-house or in another city.

The better news is that the job could be in Philadelphia or come with a change of address form as well, as long as the tape says you're an NFL player.

“I think ultimately the guys understand it's all a competitive thing and when you look at a backend roster guy, you're not only competing for our roster, but you're always competing for other rosters,” said Patullo. “I think it's important that most guys start to understand that, and a lot of those guys are in Year 2 and Year 3, so I think they pretty much understand where they're at with that.”

And then you let the chips fall where they may.

“From there, the decision's up to Howie and [head coach] Nick [Sirianni] and everybody upstairs,” Patullo said.

It’s just business as usual in the NFL.

This article first appeared on Philadelphia Eagles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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