Does Marcus Smith Have a Future with Philadelphia Eagles?

During the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 5 win over the New Orleans Saints, Marcus Smith fired off the edge, beat the protection and struck quarterback Drew Brees, whose pass wound up intercepted. Not to be mean, but it was easily the best play of Smith’s NFL career because, well, it’s pretty much the only play of his NFL career.

In fact, it was Smith’s first action of the 2015 season, and it’s questionable whether he ever would have gotten on the field had Connor Barwin not been banged up earlier in the contest. Smith missed time this season with a hamstring injury, but he was held out additional weeks even after he was healthy and hadn’t lined up for a single snap against the Saints before Barwin went out.

YR	GMS	TKL	SK
2015	2	1	0.0
2014	8	0	0.0

It’s safe to say the Eagles still don’t have a whole lot of confidence in Smith, the 2014 first-round draft pick who failed to record so much as a tackle his rookie season. And the longer it takes for the Louisville product to carve out a role in Philadelphia’s defense in his second year, the more you have to wonder whether he’ll see a third.

To be fair, nobody within the organization ever tried to hide the fact Smith was a project when the Eagles selected him 26th overall. People hear “first-round pick” and tend to think instant contributor, but there’s a big difference between being, say, No. 6 and No. 26.

Smith also has plenty of built-in excuses for his slow start. He hasn’t had many opportunities, only appearing in eight games as a rookie and just two so far in ’15, lining up for limited snaps in all. He’s been buried on the depth chart behind Barwin, Brandon Graham and at one point Trent Cole. The former AAC Defensive Player of the Year also dealt with being shuffled back and forth between outside and inside linebacker last year.

It wouldn’t hurt to show a little more patience with a 6’3” defender who ran a sub-4.7-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, according to NFL.com. Then again, Smith has nobody to blame but himself for how little he’s been on the field.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

There is absolutely no reason Smith couldn’t be a bigger part of a rotation with Barwin and Graham right now, other than the coaches don’t feel comfortable putting him out there. Smith hasn’t proven to be a capable special teams contributor, either, giving the Eagles little reason to make him active on game day.

The question at some point becomes not will Smith ever shed the bust label and become a quality player, but how long can the Eagles wait for the 23-year-old to realize his potential?

Obviously, Smith will remain with the team for the remainder of this season and will make a go of it for at least one more offseason and training camp. Beyond that, there are no promises. Head coach Chip Kelly has shown he won’t waste time cutting anybody, no matter his contract or draft status. If you can’t play, you won’t make the team.

Kelly has given every reason in the book why Smith wasn’t active in those earlier games, from his conditioning not being up to par coming off the injury to special teams. And now that he is suiting up, he’s hardly been heard from. In Monday’s win over the New York Giants, Smith played only 12 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

YR	TKL	TFL	SK	INT	PD	FF
2011	12	6.5	5.5	1	0	2
2012	29	7.0	4.0	1	2	2
2013	41	19.0	16.0	1	4	6

I tend to take more of a wait-and-see approach when high draft picks struggle. Pass-rushers, in particular, seldom have huge impacts their rookie season, even those taken in the top 15. As far as Smith’s rookie season is concerned, it’s easy to award him a mulligan.

Yet, now he’s into year two, and while we saw a flash against the Saints, it’s a low bar if we’re getting excited about one moment in one game. Smith added muscle in the offseason and had another year in the scheme. At the very least, he should be a viable reserve who shows up a couple of times per week.

At some point, Smith will run out of excuses. He needs to prove the coaches can trust him to be out there and consistently be in on positive plays. If he doesn’t start to do that this season, Smith will officially be on the hot seat, which means his next training camp might be his last in Philadelphia.