Marcus Smith officially cut by Eagles

Allen Barbre wasn’t the only Philadelphia Eagles player to be released on Wednesday (story here). The team also cut defensive end Marcus Smith, according to an official announcement from the team. Howard Eskin was first to report the news.

Smith’s departure is very unsurprising. The 2014 first round pick was due a roster bonus on the third day of training camp. By cutting Smith now, the Eagles save roughly $1.5 million in cap space. Add the $2.1 million the Eagles saved by cutting Barbre and that’s $3.6 million cleared in one day.

Smith obviously turned out to be huge bust for the Eagles. The No. 26 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft recorded 12 tackles and four sacks in 37 games played (zero starts) with Philadelphia.

Smith actually showed signs of being a competent NFL backup in 2016, but he wasn’t worth keeping around at his cap figure. It also seemed like Smith didn’t want to be in Philadelphia considering he skipped voluntary spring practices despite being on the roster bubble.

The Eagles will move forward at defensive end with Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry, Derek Barnett, Chris Long, Steven Means, and Alex McCalister. Everyone except McCalister, who could be a practice squad candidate, is likely to make the team.

Now that Smith is gone, we’ll remember him fondly. Just kidding.