Marcus Smith reportedly reports to Eagles minicamp

It’s the news you’ve all been waiting for ... yes, Marcus Smith has reportedly reported to Philadelphia in time for mandatory minicamp Eagles practice this week. Credit to Les Bowen with the scoop.

Now that Smith is back, the Eagles are destined to win the Super Bowl this year.

Jokes aside, Smith’s absence from voluntary workouts was been curious. Why would a fringe player such as himself hurt his chances of making the team?

It seems like Smith wants the Eagles to trade or cut him so he can get a fresh start with a new team. Smith is currently, at best, projected to be the fifth defensive end in the Eagles’ rotation.

So why haven’t the Eagles gotten rid of Smith already? It’s not that simple. Philadelphia could face backlash from the NFLPA for seemingly cutting a player because he skipped voluntary practices.

The feeling here is Smith will eventually still be cut/traded this summer. The Eagles can save $1,483,515 in cap space (compared to $998,018 in dead money) by moving on from Smith before his roster bonus is due on the third day of training camp.

Skipping minicamp wouldn’t have made sense for Smith. It would have cost him $80,405 to miss three days of mandatory practice.

We’re still waiting to hear if Jason Peters and/or Donnie Jones will be at minicamp after they, like Smith, skipped all of OTA practices. The expectation is that they’ll be there, but that suspicion hasn’t been confirmed yet.