The first thing you notice about Eagles outside linebacker Marcus Smith is that he just looks different.
He looks different physically … leaner, stronger, much more like an NFL player than a year ago.
You also notice just the way he carries himself. Eye contact when he talks. An infusion of confidence where a year ago there was none.
Now, acting like a football player and actually playing like one are two vastly different things. But it’s something. It's a start.
“Last year you come in and you see everything going fast and you kind of get down on yourself and everything just starts going downhill,” Smith said.
“But you get yourself back up and talk to the coaches after the season and they told me exactly what I had to do, and I had to go do it.”
Smith’s rookie year was a disaster. There's no other way to describe it.
He played just 68 snaps all year, none the last five weeks of the season. All the 14th defensive player in the draft had to show for those snaps was one tackle.
"To be honest, I think it was all mental,” Smith said after practice Monday. “Everything. I can rush the passer. I can do all the things they need me to do. The mental state is where you play around with yourself and you start asking yourself, 'Are you good enough to play in the NFL?’
“That's where I had to revert to what I did in college. I feel like I'm a great player and I could pass rush and I could do all those things, so when I came back I was ready.”
Smith was inactive twice and in eight other games didn’t play a snap. He played in only two games after Week 6.
“To be honest, it was very hard,” he said. “I don't think anyone wants to be inactive for a game. You work hard all week, you want to go out there and play, but you have to look at it as a minor setback and do exactly what the coaches tell you and you'll get your shot and you'll be that playmaker you want to be.”
The Eagles need to get something out of Smith this year. Not just because he’s a first-round pick but because they’re desperately thin at outside linebacker.
They lost promising Travis Long to an ACL tear on Monday for the second straight year, and that leaves only Smith and some street free agents behind starters Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham (see story).
Defensive coordinator Bill Davis said so far, so good. He likes what he’s seen out of Smith.
“He’s taken big steps,” he said. “He came in here and he's looking great. He’s in great shape. Best we've seen him look. His understanding of the scheme is in a whole other place.
“The rookie year is so hard. You know from the whole offseason after college ends, to the pressure of being a draft choice. The guys you see in the second year, they relax more, they're more themselves, they play smarter because they're not all nerved up, and we're hoping to see all those things come through with Marcus in this training camp.”
Smith said he started out by changing his diet. He gained about 12 pounds but he looks leaner because it’s muscle.
“I got leaner,” he said. “I'm bigger — I'm 260, 265. I'm a lot leaner. I went back in the offseason, eating real healthy. I just wanted to make my diet a priority because I know if you eat right you'll feel a lot better on the field.”
What was the biggest thing he gave up?
“Fried foods,” he said. “Last year, I would eat fried foods three or four times a week. Now, it's strictly grilled food like grilled fish, grilled chicken or turkey.”
The first big test for Smith comes Tuesday, when the Eagles are expected to practice in pads for the first time. The preseason games will be huge for him. And there’s no question that once the regular season begins, Smith will be one of the team’s most scrutinized players.
Simply, he has to produce.
“Last year, I definitely felt like I belonged but this year it just seems like the right fit,” he said. “Everything is going the way I want it to go. I'm starting to get the coaches' knowledge, I'm starting to get everything that I need to get so I can play.
“I want to be out there helping this team win. I don't want to sit on the sideline and watch. I want to play, and that's my goal, and that's what I'm going to do.”