Eagles, DeVonta Smith agree to 3-year extension (2024)

The Philadelphia Eagles and wide receiver DeVonta Smith have agreed to a three-year contract extension, the team announced Monday. The extension includes $51 million guaranteed, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.

Happy Monday Eagles fans ‼️

We've exercised the fifth-year option on WR @DeVontaSmith_6 and have agreed to terms on a 3-year contract extension through 2028.@Toyota | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/1w6VEnIKKV

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— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 15, 2024

By signing Smith through the 2028 season, the Eagles are continuing to solidify the future of their offense this offseason.

The Eagles selected Smith, who won the Heisman Trophy during his final season at Alabama, with the 10th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Since then, Smith has started all but one game he was active for and has been a consistent weapon for Philadelphia’s offense. The 25-year-old receiver is coming off his second straight 1,000-yard season and has tallied seven touchdowns in both years.

He caught 64 passes for 916 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie.

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This is an expected move for Philadelphia, an organization that has built its deeply talented core through the draft and worked to retain it by proactively signing homegrown players to contract extensions. Smith’s deal is the latest in a series of moves the Eagles’ front office has made this offseason to lock up key players long term.

Philadelphia and offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, a 2018 seventh-round pick, agreed to a three-year extension worth up to $66 million, with $48 million guaranteed. The Eagles also gave Pro Bowl offensive lineman Landon Dickerson, a 2021 second-round pick, a contract extension that made him the NFL’s highest-paid guard.

Now, Smith will be under contract through the 2028 season.

General manager Howie Roseman knew he’d have to address Smith’s contract soon. It was essentially a given that Philadelphia would at the very least exercise Smith’s fifth-year option by the May 2 deadline, but that would’ve only kept Smith under contract through 2025. It was clear the Eagles were interested in striking a long-term deal.

Roseman was asked recently about Smith’s contract at the NFL scouting combine and said, “without getting into specifics, those are guys you don’t really want to leave.”

Before Smith, Philadelphia spent several seasons failing to supply its quarterbacks with elite pass-catchers. Then, in 2021, Roseman packaged a first-round and third-round pick in a draft-day exchange with the Dallas Cowboys to trade up from No. 12 to No. 10 and select the Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama.

A year later, Roseman packaged a 2022 first-round pick with a third-round selection to acquire A.J. Brown from the Tennessee Titans. Smith and Brown have both fielded 1,000-yard seasons in the last two years.

Smith has been both durable and dependable. He’s recorded 240 career catches for 3,178 yards and 19 touchdowns. He’s missed just one game in three seasons.

He injured his ankle in Week 17 against the Arizona Cardinals, but, after wearing a walking boot for almost a week, Smith returned for the Eagles’ NFC wild-card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Smith recorded eight catches for 148 yards).

Philadelphia enjoyed Smith’s production on a relatively affordable rookie contract. But his three-year, $75 million deal could still offer reasonable value. The annual average ties Brown for fourth-most among all wide receivers, according to Over the Cap.

That ranking should diminish if the market for pass catchers surges substantially over the next few seasons. Notably, Smith signed before any market adjustments that might’ve occurred if the Minnesota Vikings had reached a deal with Justin Jefferson, who has reportedly sought an extension worth more than $30 million per year.

This is a strategic pattern by Roseman and his personnel department. In 2023, the Eagles briefly made Hurts the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback with a five-year, $255 million contract that ranks fourth at the position. Such extensions, including Smith’s, are calculated against an ever-increasing salary cap, which jumped a record-setting $30.6 million this year.

Of course, long-term deals involve risks. Hurts threw a career-high 15 interceptions after signing his extension, and his struggles against the blitz partly contributed to the staff overhaul that led to newly hired offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

But Philadelphia has identified the offensive core it desires. Smith is now one of nine regular offensive starters under contract beyond the 2025 season. Only right tackle Lane Johnson of that core will be older than 31 when his deal expires.

In a league in which roster turnover is not only volatile but expectedly so, the Eagles are attempting to maintain stability.

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(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)