The Philadelphia Eagles are waiving second-year wide receiver Ainias Smith ahead of the NFL roster cuts deadline, according to a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport.
This is a notable departure since Smith was the team’s fifth selection from their nine-player 2024 NFL Draft class. They selected him with a fifth-round pick at No. 152 overall.
Smith seemed to be on the roster bubble. We did not have the Eagles keeping him in our final 53-man roster projection:
Ainias Smith simply hasn’t done enough to justify a roster spot, though maybe the Eagles keep him because they don’t want to give up on the 2024 draft pick and he is capable of returning punts.
Kudos to Howie Roseman for avoiding sunk cost fallacy in this case.
Smith was notably outshined by 2025 undrafted rookie free agent signing Darius Cooper, who now seems like an even better bet to make the roster. The Eagles’ recent trade for John Metchie III also did not help Smith.
If Smith goes unclaimed through waivers, it’s possible the team will look to re-sign him to the practice squad. They could then temporarily elevate him on game day to be their punt returner. The Eagles used a similar approach with Britain Covey in the past.
In the event that Smith does get claimed or just isn’t considered to be a punt returning option for them, it’s not perfectly clear who will handle those duties. Cooper DeJean was the primary backup behind Covey last year but the Eagles probably don’t want to have him do that again (aside from special situations) while he’s also now playing 100% of their defensive snaps. Jahan Dotson has some previous punt returning experience and repped there in the offseason, so, maybe it’s him.
With the Eagles waiving Smith, only seven of their picks from their 2024 NFL Draft class remain on the roster. The team cut Dylan McMahon last year and he-resigned to their practice squad … only to be poached away by the Los Angeles Rams. If the Eagles don’t retain Trevor Keegan, which seems possible, they’ll be down to six of nine picks still under team control. And only five of them on the active roster with Johnny Wilson placed on the season-ending injured reserve list.
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