In April 2024, the Philadelphia Eagles made an unusual decision when it came to their electric wide receiver duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
That decision? Despite a clear delineation in talent, the Eagles were going to pay both players like they were WR1 instead of a WR1 and WR2.
Smith was first, with a 3-year, $75 million contract extension that pays him $25 million per year. A few weeks later, it was Brown’s turn with a 3-year, $96 million contract extension that pays him $32 million per year. At the time, it put both players in the Top 10 of the NFL’s highest paid wide receivers.
That the Eagles proceeded to reel off a 14-3 regular season record and dominated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX — a game in which both Smith and Brown caught touchdown passes — those contracts have avoided any scrutiny to this point.
That is, until Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon recently called Smith out for being the “Most Overpaid Player” on the Eagles’ roster in 2025.
“Smith is a very good player, but he’s a clear-cut No. 2 receiver who has averaged about 1,000 yards per season and never scored more than eight touchdowns in a campaign.” Gagnon wrote. “Yet his $25 million AAV makes him the 12th-highest-paid player at his position.”
Career-Making Moment as College Freshman
Smith’s entry into our football-loving lives came in the most dramatic way possible, when he came up with one of the greatest catches in college football history as a true freshman at the University of Alabama — a game-winning, 41-yard touchdown reception in overtime of the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Georgia.
Nicknamed “The Slim Reaper” or “Skinny Batman” because of his 6-foot, 170-pound frame, Smith capped his college career with another CFP National Championship in 2020 as he became the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy since Michigan’s Desmond Howard in 1991.
The Eagles drafted Smith with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft and he’s helped his team to 4 consecutive postseason appearances, including two Super Bowl appearances.
With the Super Bowl win following the 2024 season, Smith also became just the fifth player in football history to win a college national championship, Heisman Trophy and a Super Bowl.
Facts: No Pro Bowls, No NFL All-Pro Teams
While Brown is carving out what could eventually be a Hall of Fame career as a 3-time Pro Bowler and with 3 consecutive NFL All-Pro nods, Smith has earned no such accolades.
Through his first 4 NFL seasons, Smith has 2 seasons of 1,000 receiving yards. While he had a career high 8 touchdown receptions in 2024, he also had career highs in missed games (4) and career lows in receiving yards (833) and yards per catch (12.3). Draft Sharks currently has Smith projected as having an 81.8 percent chance of missing time with an injury in 2025.
While calling Smith overpaid might be spot on, there’s probably some ulterior benefits to paying him that much. Were general manager Howie Roseman ever to decide Smith was expendable as a trade piece he would have no trouble selling him as a WR1 to another team — that’s because the Eagles have always paid him like one.
