After a disastrous rookie year, the last thing Marcus Smith needed was this.
Smith suffered a groin injury on the second day of the first set of OTAs last month, came back too quickly, aggravated the injury, and was out another two weeks.
He returned Monday and acknowledged that if he’s going to make any sort of positive impression in training camp, he’s got to stay healthy.
He just isn’t in the position to miss much more time.
“It’s very important,” Smith said. “Right now I’m getting the mental reps, but I definitely want to get out there so I can get all the work leading up to camp so I can be ready.”
The less said about last year the better. Smith, the 26th pick in the draft, played in only eight games, shuttled between outside and inside linebacker, and got just 68 snaps on defense all year. None the last five weeks of the season.
His final season totals were one tackle and one blown coverage on Frank Gore that resulted in a 55-yard touchdown in a five-point loss.
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“I look at last year as a learning curve for me,” Smith said. “All the things I learned, it made me stronger and made me a better football player.
“Definitely, it was tougher than I thought it was, but I got through it. My first year is over now. All that stuff that happened is over. It’s a new year and I’m just ready to play.”
And on Monday, he took a small step toward playing by practicing for the first time in a couple weeks. Smith didn’t participate in all the drills, but he said he’d do a little more on Tuesday and be full-go by Wednesday.
“It felt good to be out there,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t a setback. ... They wanted to make sure I did everything right this time and eased me back in.”
Smith put on 15 pounds and looks bigger and stronger. He said he feels a lot more comfortable mentally.
Time will tell.
“It’s a very big leap from last year, just me knowing the system and knowing everything that’s going on,” he said. “I just want to be out there with my teammates.
“I feel like last year I was maybe 75, 80 percent and this year more 95, 100 percent, me knowing the system.”
The Eagles are very thin behind starters Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham at outside linebacker. There’s Travis Long, who didn’t play at all last year, and there’s Smith.
Smith is hoping to take over the role Graham filled last year as the third outside 'backer. Graham got 499 snaps a year ago.
That would be a huge jump for Smith.
“That’s really what I want to do, to be that guy to fit in whenever coach needs to call on me like he did with BG last year and just work my way up from there,” Smith said. “You’ve got to start somewhere, so this year that’s what I’m working towards.”
Graham, now entering his sixth season and third as a linebacker, took Smith under his wing last year. As first-round picks whose careers got off to slow starts, they share something profound in common.
Graham’s advice to Smith is to not listen to anybody who calls him a bust.
“What I tell him is stay off the social media, because I know that ‘B’ word hurts sometimes,” Graham said. "You don’t want to hear that.
“But as long as he got an opportunity and he’s not hurt like I was (his first two years), just go out there and show them what you can do. Now you’ve got the opportunity, now take advantage.
“He came in 265? He even gained like 10 to 15 pounds. I’m excited to see what he’s going to do when the pads come on. Everybody looks good now. But when the pads get on, that’s when everybody starts being quiet and you start seeing who’s real and who’s not.”