Eagles Top 25 For 2025: Acrobatic Receiver Lands Inside the Top 10

DeVonta Smith had a couple of weeks to think about his answer. In the moment, at the June 10 Eagles minicamp, he said the Super Bowl ‘dagger’ was one of his top 3 catches and said there were two others against Washington that were better, but added, “there’s a lot of them.”

Smith was ready this time to clarify things a bit. The ‘dagger’ wasn’t in his top three, but it was there because, “the moment it happened in, that makes it the best.” That moment, of course, was a 46-yard touchdown catch on a perfect throw from Jalen Hurts, which gave the Eagles a 34-0 lead late in the third quarter of their Super Bowl romp over the Kansas City Chiefs.

His number one catch, from a difficulty perspective, was the one-handed, toe-tap catch at the back of the end zone against the Jaguars last season, he said on June 28 at his 5th annual celebrity softball all-star game in Allentown.

All Smith’s catches seem to require a level of acrobatics that sets the Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama apart from so many other receivers in the NFL. He is also the perfect partner to ride shotgun with teammate A.J. Brown because Smith truly doesn’t care how many catches he gets as long as the Eagles win, and if that means blocking in the run game, so be it.

For all those reasons, Smith lands at No. 9 on our countdown of the top 25 Eagles on the current roster.

Eagles on Sports Illustrated beat reporters Ed Kracz and John McMullen each compiled their top 25 lists separately, and a point system determined the final list with No. 1 receiving 25 points all the way down to one point for No. 25.

Smith finished with 35 points. Kracz put him at No. 8 on his list and McMullen placedhim at No. 9 on his list.

The list so far:

No. 25 (tie): Jihaad Campbell and Drew Mukuba (3 points each)

No. 24: Matt Pryor (4)

No. 23: Adoree Jackson (5)

No. 22: Jahan Dotson (7)

No. 21: Kelee Ringo (8)

No. 20: Jake Elliott (13)

No. 19: Jalyx Hunt (13)

No. 18: Moro Ojomo (14)

No. 17: Jordan Davis (19)

No. 16: Nakobe Dean (20)

No. 15: Reed Blankenship (21)

No. 14: Nolan Smith (25)

No. 13: Dallas Goedert (27)

No. 12: Cam Jurgens (28)

No. 11: Zack Baun (33)

No. 10: Quinyon Mitchell (34)

Smith, who was drafted No. 10 overall in 2021, already has 308 catches for 4,011 yards and 27 touchdowns in 63 games. For really the first time in his four seasons, however, he missed some time with two different injuries – a hamstring early on and then a concussion later in the season. Asked what he wants to improve on this year, he mentioned staying healthy.

“At the end of every season you go back, watch some things, things you did really well, things you need to work on,” he said. “For me, I had some injuries this year, so that’s the biggest thing, just doing things to prevent having those injuries. That was the biggest thing for me.”