The Eagles will not exercise defensive end Marcus Smith‘s option for 2018, reports Zach Berman of Philly.com.
Fifth-year options are guaranteed for injury only, meaning the Eagles would not have necessarily committed themselves to Smith had they picked it up. Nevertheless, they didn’t want to take an $8.718MM risk on a player who has disappointed since going 26th overall in the 2014 draft.
Smith, a former Louisville Cardinal, hasn’t started in any of his 37 professional appearances, and he has totaled just four sacks. The 25-year-old is coming off his first 16-game season, in which he put up 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks in 268 defensive snaps. He was a bigger factor on special teams, playing over 40 percent of the unit’s snaps. That’s clearly not what the Eagles had in mind when they invested a first-round pick in him.
Looking to next season, potentially Smith’s last in Philadelphia, he could face even more of an uphill battle to make a defensive impact, as Berman notes. With two new additions – first-rounder Derek Barnett and free agent pickup Chris Long – joining Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry, the Eagles have plenty of non-Smith options at defensive end.
Colossal bust.
Hilarious typical eagles going right after another DE in the draft, how smart!
To be fair, Smith was a 3rd or 4th round grade prospect. Barnett is a clear-cut 1st round prospect.
Typical? If Smith was a bust wouldn’t it be the smart thing to do?
One of the easiest calls to make.
No surprise here at all,other than waiting this long to decline it.no way we would’ve paid him 8.7mil.
And on top of that,he’s gonna be in a battle just to stay on the roster.
Graham,Barnett,Curry & Long on the outside,with Cox & Jernigan on the inside are probable locks.
That leaves Smith,Means,McCalister ,Vaeao,Qualls,Shittu,Hamilton & Craig battling for 3 or 4 spots.And if Allens rehab ends up on the short end of the 4-6 months,he returns in August and likely takes 1 of those away.and Smith still offers around 1.5m in cap savings.he might not make it til July,let alone September.