To Strike Or Not To Strike: Eagles Aren't Holding Players Back

Emerging Eagles’ pass rusher Nolan Smith hinted that he might be ready for “striking” last week when the team convened for its one-day minicamp on Tuesday.

“The rehab's great,” Smith told Eagles On SI last week. “I'm in a great spot and still using my arms. Still pressing. Hopefully I'll be striking next week.”

Turns out the third-year player, who had four sacks in the Eagles’ run to a Super Bowl LIX championship despite tearing his triceps in the big game, was still limited with the eye toward training camp with players set to report on July 22.

Smith was able to work in individual drills throughout the spring with a large brace supporting his left arm.

“Everything is falling in line,” said Smith. “You know, everything happened for a reason. If I wasn't in the Super Bowl, I wouldn't have torn my tricep. I take that as a blessing.”

The dominating Super Bowl win over Kansas City was on Feb. 9 in New Orleans, and the finish of Philadelphia’s offseason work came on June 10, just over four months from the injury, which took place in the second quarter.

Smith persevered and finished the game even though he was aware of the injury.

"Just be a man about it. Toughen up and just push,” Smith said of playing through the injury.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni rarely talks about injury timetables, but smiled when told Smith was talking about “striking again.”

“He's always ready to strike. I love Nolan Smith. He is a tough dude,” the coach said.

Considering what the Eagles have lost at edge rusher in the offseason, Smith is projected to be one of the more important players on the team in the 2025 season.

So, June 10 was hardly a goal to get Smith back into team drills.  

“We have great people in this building. It takes everybody. We have great doctors, we have great strength staff and training staff that helps me know that, when they say ‘he's ready to go,’ he is ready to go,” Sirianni said.

And if that were June 10, Smith would have been out there even with the five week down period to follow.

“I've heard a couple of [reporter’s] questions about, well, 'how do you pull this guy back?' when they're ready to go? They're ready to go,” Sirianni explained. “Everybody has an individualized plan to make sure that they're as healthy as they possibly can be.”

The end game remains to win football games, though.

“The thing that we always have to remember, and you guys always have to remember, is that to put yourself in position to win games,” the coach said. “It takes what it takes.

“You have to put the work in. You don't save anybody for Sunday. Now there's points in the year where you do, but the guys need to work. They have to work to get better at football. You get better at football because you're practicing football to get better at it.”

When the green light is given by the medical and training staffs, it’s exactly that.

“When they're ready to go and they give us a green light, they’ve got to go,” Sirainni said. “That's what our players want too. We got guys that love to work hard and that love the process and the grind, and when he's ready to go, he’ll go.”