The Mantra That Fuels Emerging Eagles Star

PHILADELPHIA - The list of the most important players of the star-studded Super Bowl champion Eagles can populate pretty quickly with obvious names.

Perhaps, the most overlooked member of the exclusive club is third-year edge defender Nolan Smith, who is now the lead dog of Jeremiah Washburn’s pass-rushing group after an offseason of attrition.

Josh Sweat is getting big money in Arizona, Brandon Graham walked off into a sunset that still includes frequent appearances at the NovaCare Complex, and most recently, came the trade of square peg Bryce Huff to San Francisco after paying him $26 million for 298 defensive snaps.

Smith, the 30th overall pick in the 2023 draft, made some of the change a little less daunting by closing out 2024-25 with seven sacks over his final 10 games, including four in the postseason once his playing time spiked after Graham suffered a torn triceps in Los Angeles on Nov. 24. 

Ironically, Smith suffered that same injury in the Eagles’ dominating Super Bowl LIX win over Kansas City, fighting through it to help Philadelphia secure its second Lombardi Trophy.

The connection of Smith, 24, and Graham is far deeper than the coincidence of injury, however.

They are both regarded as “energy guys,” and each is a first-round pick whose career started a little slower than hoped for. Both are also pass rushers, albeit with Graham more of a traditional DE and Smith more of an odd-man front, overhang.

Graham is bigger and stronger, while Smith is speedier and more athletic, yet the finished product in both instances is a player who can rush the quarterback and set the edge.

With 15 years of experience, Graham became an obvious sounding board for the younger player, and Smith looks in the mirror each morning to see the words Graham expressed to him.

“Be You.”

That’s the simple advice Graham gave to Smith when the latter was fighting through a rookie season with limited playing time, and Smith wrote it down and placed it on his mirror.

“It was just a learning year,” Smith said of his rookie season when talking with reporters after a Tuesday OTA practice. “And, truly, a testament to Brandon Graham. You’re about to make me cry up here just because BG gave me so much, just from the outside world putting so much pressure on me. 

‘You’re a first-round pick, you need to do this, you need to do that.’ BG just told me, ‘Be you.’ And until this point that’s what I got on my mirror, my goals, be you.”

Expectations are nothing new for Smith, who was on two national championship teams at Georgia.

"Just stay hungry and be humble. Just stay on the grind,” Smith said. “... That's one thing we say at Georgia every day, just enjoy the journey. Be where your feet are and don't take anything for granted, look forward and don't look behind.

“... Nobody can make you be anything other than yourself and as long as you work and put in that dedication and that effort every day. And that’s why I work so hard. I just want to be me.” 

Graham’s path to that goal cleared that brush for Smith.

“[The mindset] is not for me. It’s for B,” Smith said. “It’s for B when he was doubted when he first got here and so was I. He just kept pushing me and he leaned into me. As we say in the south, he just poured into my glass just a little bit more. He just kept pouring into my glass and he believed in me.”

Now it’s time for Smith to pour into the glass of others.

“Be you” needs to become a little bigger now with Smith, the penciled-in centerpiece of the Eagles’ 2025 edge-rushing group. 

In a perfect world, Smith and second-year player Jalyx Hunt grow together with the support coming from prove-it free-agent signings Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche, and perhaps sixth-round college producer Antwaun Powell-Ryland.

“The next step in my game personally is just be that pass rusher and keep rushing. But be the ultimate player,” Smith said. “I talked to Coach Vic (Fangio) and he always told me play the game the right way. That’s what I always tell myself, ‘Play the game the right way.’ Because I gotta crush the run in order to rush the passer. 

“When you play the game the right way, don’t chase sacks and don’t do none of that, be a football player, truly, everything else will take care of itself.”

Smith is already back on the practice field in a limited fashion with a large brace and hopes to be cleared to strike with his surgically repaired torn triceps next week at mandatory minicamp.

“I'm in a great spot and still using my arms. Still pressing. Hopefully I'll be striking next week,” Smith said. “Everything is falling in line. You know, everything happened for a reason. If I wasn't in the Super Bowl, I wouldn't have torn my triceps. I take that as a blessing.”