Hailing from Amite City, Louisiana, DeVonta Smith grew up a football and basketball star. Despite size concerns, Alabama recruits saw a level of toughness that most dream to have. Following receiving an offer, Smith chose to commit to playing at Alabama. As a true freshman, he averaged a catch per game, playing in only 8 games. After paying his dues in the Alabama pecking order, earning starting snaps his junior year and erupted for 1256 yards and 14 touchdowns, leading the team. He wasn’t done blowing minds yet. He followed up year 3 with a 117 reception, 1856 receiving yard, and 23 touchdown season on a dominant 37.5-percent target share. In doing so, he became the fourth receiver to win the Heisman award and the first since Desmond Howard in 1991.
Despite an otherworldly college stats, Devonta Smith’s size was a concern to some, weighing in at 170 pounds. His 4.44 second 40 time looked good on the surface, but an 86.3 speed score shows that he possessed poor size-adjusted speed. This proved to only matter in the fantasy community, as the Eagles selected him with the 10th pick of the 2021 NFL Draft. It’s no surprise that it took him no time to start torching corners, as 20-pounds apparently means a lot less than a 78-inch wingspan. In his first game, he caught 6 of 8 targets and scored, forcing doubters to send out their apology tweets.
Smith had an up and down rookie season, as the entire Eagles team performed at an inconsistent level. In contrast, his next gen stats displayed consistent usage. He earned a 38.6-percent air yards share, 22.1-percent target share, and 26 deep balls. He excelled in many areas, but making plays with the ball in his hands was not one of them, generating 185 yards after catch. Him and Jalen Hurts struggled to connect at times, resulting in an 81.0-percent catch rate on only 5 drops. He did, however, impress with 2.16 yards per route run. With only 10.9 fantasy points per game, his 75 ADP did not pay off. He’ll go into year two of his rookie contract with a top 24 fantasy ranking, and will be a valuable asset in real life and fantasy for years to come.
