Nick Sirianni talks up DeVonta Smith’s role in changing scheme: ‘Excited about what he’ll look like in this new offense’
The Eagles coach also discussed running back Saquon Barkley's potential fit within the fresh-look attack.
INDIANAPOLIS — A.J. Brown and his future in Philadelphia may be dominating the offseason news cycle, but don’t forget about the other star Eagles receiver under contract in 2026.
Come training camp, all eyes will be on DeVonta Smith and his role in the new-look Eagles offense under offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, regardless of whether Brown is back on the team. Despite a relatively down year for the offense as a whole, Smith continued to impress last season, eclipsing 1,000 receiving yards for the third time in his career.
Five seasons into his tenure with the Eagles, does Smith have the potential to take it up another notch in a Mannion-led, Shanahan/McVay-style offense in 2026? Nick Sirianni said Tuesday at his annual news conference at the NFL scouting combine that Smith has not yet reached his ceiling.
“Oh, no,” Sirianni said. “No, I think he continually gets better. I think you saw him have a great year this year. And even when a guy appears not to have as good a year, you’re always looking at it like, ‘Is his arrow on the rise? Is his arrow on the fall?’ And even if a guy doesn’t have his best year, he still can be on the rise. Well, I think we saw DeVonta have a great year, and I think you just continue to see him play better and better.
“And I think that’s a tribute to who he is. Guys that are tough, that love football, that are smart football players and they’re talented, have a tendency to reach their ceiling, God willing. And I think that’s what you’re seeing. You’re seeing him continue to get better. You’re seeing him continue to do these things and make plays only that he can make on the football field. And so I just think you continue to see him on the rise and excited about what he’ll look like in this new offense that we’ll have.”
Could that role expand in 2026? Smith led the Eagles in receiving yards in 2025, accumulating 5 more than Brown. But he was targeted 113 times, eight fewer times than Brown. Smith had 77 receptions in 2025, the third-lowest total of his career.
“Getting DeVonta Smith the ball and getting him targets is always going to be important, as long as he’s an Eagle, to the success of our football team,” Sirianni said. “And so it’s just the way the season goes, the way the flow of a game goes. It’s important that he’s seeing targets every game, because he does good things when he gets those things. So I don’t ever want to say, ‘Hey, this is the number. He needs to have this many targets’. He needs to be able to affect the game each game and that number can change each game, each year based off of that.”
Barkley on the rebound?
As Sirianni expressed on Friday, the running game is poised to make a significant shift in philosophy under Mannion. The Shanahan/McVay offense typically features a wide-zone blocking scheme that requires a different technique from the offensive linemen than the scheme they had grown accustomed to under Jeff Stoutland.
Time will tell how the new scheme impacts Barkley’s output on the ground. The running back, now 29, posted historic numbers in 2024 (2,005 rushing yards), only to take a step back last season. Barkley wasn’t his prolific self in Year 2 with the Eagles, although he still eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth time in his career (1,140).
While Barkley won’t take the field with the offense until the spring, Sirianni expressed a sense of confidence in the All-Pro running back and his ability to adapt to the new system.
“My experience with great football players is, you come in and you’re like, ‘Hey, Saquon, we’re going to run inside zone.’ He’s going to be really good at it. ‘Hey, we’re going to run gap schemes.’ He’s going to be really good at it. ‘Hey, we’re going to run wide zone.’ He’s going to be really good at it. ‘Hey, we’re going to run the option.’ He’s going to be really good at it. ‘Hey, we’re going to split you out wide.’ He’s just a great football player. And so guys that are great football players can fit into a lot of different offenses.
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“And Saquon, regardless of the scheme, I think you saw that in some of the things that we’ve done, he’s been highly productive in many of the schemes, whether it’s gap schemes, whether it’s inside zones, whether it’s pin-and-pulls, whether it’s toss-cracks, every one of these things, I’m picturing him breaking a big run off on that. And so that’s a common theme with good football players. They can fit into a lot of different schemes. So I believe he’ll be exceptional at that.”