Getty Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith has a shoe deal and is launching the first pair this weekend.
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith is having a productive week on and off the field. After catching 7 passes for 80 yards in the Eagles win over the Vikings, Smith is set to unveil the first pair of sneakers as part of his shoe and NFT deal with Endstate. Smith’s first model will be Kelly green, which should draw some serious interest from Eagles fans.
Coming 9.24.22.
Who’s ready?https://t.co/HWEGj46EeF
DeVonta Smith x @endstate pic.twitter.com/oKnFfozBPB
— DeVonta Smith (@DeVontaSmith_6) September 16, 2022
Endstate creates sneakers with NFT chips in the tongue of the shoe, which grant access to special events and rewards for the wearer. In Smith’s case, that includes a meet and greet with the receiver, an Eagles watch party, and rewards based on Smith’s performance.
If he scores a touchdown or catches a pass of 41 or more yards the rest of the season, NFT owners will get a free cheesesteak. If he goes for 1,000 yards this year, they’ll get a limited edition DeVonta Smith football card.
While it’s unlikely, if he garners league MVP honors, holders will receive a luxury watch. The last wide receiver to earn MVP honors was Jerry Rice, as the Pro Football Writers of America MVP in 1987. John Elway took the Associated Press award that year, and no wide receiver has ever won the AP’s MVP award.
Join the Endstate Discord for a live Q&A with @DeVontaSmith_6 tomorrow at 7PM ET.
Ask the Slim Reaper himself why he chose to be an Endstate athlete, what it was like to work on the Honey Drip sneaker, and his ambitions for the drop after launch.https://t.co/MvJabDbLS7 pic.twitter.com/lo1N1lnPfm
— ENDSTATE (@endstate) September 21, 2022
Smith is currently on pace for 604 yards, but had a slow start in Week 1. Last year, Smith racked up 916 receiving yards as a rookie, so the 1,000-yard mark is within reach.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was quick to point out that in the grand scheme of things, a 2-0 start doesn’t mean a whole lot by the time December and January roll around.
“You see every year that a team starts 5-0 or 5-1, and they fall off,” Sirianni said during his September 21 press conference. “You see every year that a team starts slow and they build, and so, we’re so early in this. There’s so much time to build. We are truly in the business of getting better every day, me included, coaches included. We are trying to elevate our play each day and we know in this league that there are so many teams that start fast and then they fizzle off.”
Sirianni preached that the key is not to focus on the big picture week-to-week, but rather on the process of improving all season long, so that the Eagles are a contender when the playoffs roll around.
“Our daily focus is truly — I know I sound like a broken record, I’m saying it over, and over and over again, our process is trying to get better each day and you’re never going to come away from a game and say, ‘Well, that was good enough.’ That’s just not how we live, how we operate,” Sirianni said.
The Eagles raced out to a big lead on Monday night against the Vikings, staking themselves to a 24-7 advantage by halftime. But neither team scored in the second half, and Sirianni took that blame on himself.
“We started fast, great,” Sirianni said. “And the defense stayed fast the whole time and the offense, we didn’t score any points in the second half, right. And that’s partly me. I think I did — I took my foot off the gas and forced [Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen] to take his foot off the gas and I know I did that and that’s not good enough on my part. There’s a lot of room for improvement.”
The Eagles will be back on action Sunday in Landover, MD, when they face the division-rival Washington Commanders.
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