Although the Eagles cut Wendell Smallwood, he won’t get revenge by telling the Redskins about their offense.
For the first time in his NFL career, Wendell Smallwood is playing for a different team. The former fifth-round pick got drafted to the Philadelphia Eagles back in 2016. Despite coming from West Virginia, Smallwood was actually joining his childhood team with the Eagles.
As a Delaware native, Smallwood has always been around Philly, so he’s been quite familiar with the Eagles even before they selected him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to finish out his fourth and final year on his rookie deal with the Eagles.
This past weekend, Philly made some tough cuts after the preseason concluded. Although Smallwood made it through the first round of releases, he wasn’t as fortunate when the final 53-man roster was due. Smallwood would get waived from Philly, and claimed elsewhere.
Shockingly, Smallwood had quite a few claims on the waiver wire. But the Eagles division rivals, the Washington Redskins ended up landing him, which seemed strange considering their current backfield situation. They have a second-rounder in Derrius Guice. A future legend in Adrian Peterson, and a notable contributor in Chris Thompson.
So why in the world did Washington make a move for Smallwood? Well, the apparent conclusion everybody came up with was that the Redskins wanted inside information on the Eagles. Being that Smallwood has been there for the last three years, including this entire summer, he knows better than anybody. However, Smallwood vows to keep Philly’s secrets in Philly.
Smallwood makes a promise?
It’s unclear what Smallwood’s role in Washington would be other than giving up intel on the Eagles. Redskins’ head coach Jay Gruden discussed mixing him in here and there on offense and especially on special teams, but we’re not sure we are buying that.
It’s quite common when teams claim a player from an upcoming opponent in the NFL. After all, the information they may bring could be beneficial in any way. But Smallwood made it clear that he doesn’t feel comfortable giving up any information that game film doesn’t already show.
“That just wouldn’t feel right,” Smallwood told Darryl Slater of NJ Advanced Media this week. “That was my childhood team growing up, and that team means a lot to me. I wouldn’t feel comfortable going out there and giving the playbook and saying, ‘These are their plays.’ I wouldn’t ever go that far.”
While Smallwood claims that his time in Philly with the team and the fans had its ups and downs, in the end, the Eagles mean a lot to him. From growing up watching them, getting drafted there, and even winning a Super Bowl, Smallwood claims that the organization means too much. He wouldn’t feel right revealing inside information whether they cut him or not.