Top 25 Eagles Ranked: DeVonta Smith on The Rise at No. 6

Philadelphia Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith has taken the NFL by storm and launched an assault on the team's record book since entering the league as a Heisman Trophy winner.

PHILADELPHIA – He is arguably the most fun player to watch on the Philadelphia Eagles, from his ability to make route-running look easy, gliding in and out of his patterns, his ballerina-like toe-tapping to keep his feet in-bounds when needed, and the way he can contort his body like a magician going up to make a catch.

His presence on the outside of the Eagles’ offense has made Philly a playoff participant in each of his first two seasons in the league, and now, he checks in as our sixth-ranked player in our top-25 current Eagles.

He is:

WR DEVONTA SMITH

Since winning the Heisman Trophy in his final season at Alabama, and becoming the first receiver to do so since 1991 when Michigan’s Desmond Howard did it, Smith has taken the NFL by storm and has unleashed an assault on the Eagles’ record books.

He broke DeSean Jackson’s record for receiving yards set in 2008 when Smith put up 916 yards then, last year, his 95 receptions were the most ever by an Eagles receiver.

A.J. Brown is widely considered the team’s No. 1 receiver, and Brown’s 88 catches last year were the second-most in team history, but Smith shouldn’t have to take a backseat to him.

“He’s going to continue to get better, he’s going to continue to strive,” Brown said. “That guy is a great route runner. We were just watching highlights in there from the workout and he’s a really good route runner. The sky’s the limit and he's going to continue to get better.”

Already, Smith has drawn attention from around the league.

He was named the Eagles’ most promising building block by Bleacher Report, and at Smith’s second annual celebrity softball game last month, Terrell Owens had high praise for him.

“I’ve admired this guy’s game for so long,” T.O. told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “He’s been excelling ever since. He’s obviously doing really great things in Philly, where the expectations are high ... his game speaks for itself.”

The process behind the top-25 list started with Eagles beat writers Ed Kracz and John McMullen putting together their own top 25 players independent of each other’s rankings and then assigning point values, with 25 points awarded to the player ranked first on each list, 24 to the player ranked second, and so on, with one point going to the player that was put 25th.

The highest ranking from either reporter breaks any ties in the ballot.

Here’s how the rankings shake out so far:

No. 25 – RB Kenny Gainwell

No. 24 – LB Nicholas Morrow

No. 23 – S Reed Blankenship

No. 22 – S Terrell Edmunds

No. 21 – K Jake Elliott

No. 20 – LB Nakobe Dean

No. 19 – DT Jordan Davis

No. 18 – DT Jalen Carter

No. 17 – RB D’Andre Swift

No. 16 – DT Milton Williams

No. 15 – DT Fletcher Cox

No. 14 – CB Avonte Maddox

No. 13 – DE Brandon Graham

No. 12 – CB James Bradberry

No. 11 – OG Landon Dickerson

No. 10 – LT Jordan Mailata

No. 9 – CB Darius Slay

No. 8 – DE Josh Sweat

No. 7 – TE Dallas Goedert

No. 6 - Smith

Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.

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