DeVonta Smith Camp Update — August 23: Limited All Week, No Team Reps Yet

DeVonta Smith practiced Monday for the first time in two weeks, listed as a limited participant, per Josh Alper at NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk. Jeff McLane at the Philadelphia Inquirer had him working individual drills as the team eased him toward the New England trip, and Dave Zangaro at NBC Sports Philadelphia listed him limited again at both joint practices in Foxborough on Wednesday and Thursday. He did not play in Saturday's preseason loss to the Patriots, where no starters dressed, per Reuben Frank at NBC Sports Philadelphia.

So the week's answer is: on the field, not yet in the offense. And the offense had a week that made his absence louder. Jalen Hurts threw five interceptions across the two joint practices — the new scheme's first work against an outside defense — with one pick going off Dontayvion Wicks' hands and another born of a miscommunication with Britain Covey, per Zangaro. A number one receiver rehearsing timing with his quarterback is precisely the thing a hamstring keeps stealing, and three weeks into camp, Smith's count of team reps in Sean Mannion's new offense sits at zero while the install stumbles through live tests with understudies running his routes.

Back in June the case here was a scoring rebound — 77 catches on a hundred 13 targets with only four touchdowns is the kind of suppressed rate that historically recovers — plus the number one job vacated when A.J. Brown was traded to New England. The role half gets proven in reps, which is exactly what this injury keeps deferring, even as the hamstring itself trends the right way and nobody in the building frames it as serious.

The checkable things: whether Smith graduates from limited to full team work before rosters cut to 53 on Sunday, August 30, and whether he steps straight back into the featured role when he does. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._