THERE is no need to ask WR DeVonta Smith to be anything other, than what he’s always been. Losing WR A.J. Brown, means that we lost a physical, tackle-breaking, 50-50 ball winner. The smart move would be to develop a replacement from what we already have on the roster. For my money, that means WR Darius Cooper.
Suddenly throwing Smith a ton of 50-50 balls, and expecting him to break tackles over the middle would be stupid. We didn’t ask him to do that before, because it’s not his game, so let’s not try to press him into a role that still wouldn’t suit him.