Eagles news: DeVonta Smith addresses dirty hit, Slay mentioned as a trade piece

The hours trickle away as gametime approaches. The Philadelphia Eagles have been discussed rather frequently, and with the Phillies season now over, that trend will continue.

13 games remain in the regular season for the Birds. Their next doubles as a welcome-back party for DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown, and Lane Johnson.

It's hard to win in this league. It's tougher to do so without three of the best players on the roster, but a struggling Cleveland Browns team is coming to town. That has birthed hope of a 'get right game' to steady Philly's ship.

There are theories that A.J. and Lane could have played last week but were kept out for safety purposes. They practiced fully this week as did DeVonta Smith who missed every Week 4 practice leading up to the game vs. Tampa before Philly got their bye in Week 5

Eagles news: DeVonta Smith clears concussion protocol and finally discusses the hit that put him there.

DeVonta Smith has cleared concussion protocol. He's back in the lineup and will start versus the Browns. The knockout shot that took him out of the lineup has been described as a dirty hit by many, especially those who are Birds fans.

A fourth-quarter five-yard reception should have been blown dead when his forward progress was halted and he was forced backward. Instead, the play was allowed to continue. Saints defensive tackle Khristian Boyd took a shot at Smith while he was in a defenseless position.

Boyd’s hit left Smith on the field for several minutes. He'd later be ruled out of the game, but DeVonta isn't taking any issues with what happened.

Thank NJ.com's Chris Franklin for the quote.

“I don’t feel like it was dirty. He did hit me in the head but I feel more like the whistle should have been blown. It’s probably a fine line.”

Respectfully, we'd disagree. There's a camaraderie between players, but we feel the headshot is what made the play dirty.

More Eagles news: Darius Slay is mentioned as a trade piece.

Here's something of note. The NFL Trade Deadline approaches. Darius Slay has been mentioned as a possible bargaining chip.

CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin recently cooked up his theory on seven big names who could be available at the trade deadline. Slay was mentioned. Here's what Benjamin offered as his defense.

"The Philadelphia Eagles aren't likely to part with their most experienced cover man while sitting in the thick of the NFC East race, but general manager Howie Roseman prides himself on forging creative deals, and he was already prepared to part ways with Slay prior to the 2023 season. With promising youngsters Quinyon Mitchell, Kelee Ringo, and Cooper DeJeanall in tow, there could be added motivation to change."

Typically, these ideas provide a little smoke that normally won't lead to any fires, but they are surely worth mentioning. The NFL Trade Deadline lands at 4 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Nov. 5th.

Stay tuned.

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