DeVonta Smith Fantasy Football Value For 2026 After A.J. Brown Trade: The New WR1 In Philly
With A.J. Brown no longer in Philly, DeVonta Smith's time as a WR1 is here. How high should he be upgraded for fantasy football? Matt LaMarca breaks it down.
The Eagles are going to be one of the most intriguing teams this offseason. After a disastrous finish to the 2025-26 campaign, the team needed to make an overhaul. They added to their receiving corps in a big way, signing Hollywood Brown, trading for Dontayvion Wicks and drafting Makai Lemon.
However, the biggest domino has finally fallen. The Eagles officially traded away A.J. Brown, leaving the team without their top receiver from the past few seasons. Brown saw some statistical decline in 2025-26, but he still racked up a 30% target share and 39% air yards share. That opens up a lot of opportunities for the rest of the roster.
DeVonta Smith figures to step into that No. 1 role, but what does that mean for fantasy purposes? Let’s dive in.
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DeVonta Smith Fantasy Football Value For 2026
What could Smith’s role look like without Brown next season? We’ve seen him in that split in the past, and the results have been pretty promising.
Smith spent his entire rookie season while Brown was still in Tennessee, and he had a solid campaign. He finished with just under 1,000 receiving yards and five total touchdowns, and he racked up a WR30 finish in PPR formats. Not bad for a guy in his first professional season.
However, Smith really took off when playing without Brown in recent years. Smith had two games without him in 2024-25, and he posted a target share of at least 29% and an air yards share of at least 56% in both contests. He ultimately averaged 17.75 PPR points in those outings.
He also saw time without Brown last season. In Week 8, Smith posted a gaudy 50% target share and 77% air yards share, albeit in a game where the Eagles attempted just 20 passes. He also played without Brown in the final game of the year, and while Smith was limited to a 16% route participation, he was targeted on 57% of his routes run.
The big question is how much the new acquisitions of Lemon, Wicks and Brown will cut into his workload. When Brown went down in previous years, the Eagles were left pretty barren at receiver after Smith. It left him with a massive workload by default. That won’t necessarily need to be the case next season.
Still, he should see a boost to his metrics from last year. Even with Brown carving out an alpha share, Smith still had a 25% target share, 32% air yards share and 41% end zone share. Those numbers could all rise, which would give Smith a solid boost to his fantasy value.
Should You Draft Smith In Fantasy Football?
It’s no surprise that Smith is expected to take a step forward next season, which is being reflected in his price tag. He’s currently coming off the board with a fantasy football ADP of 31.8 on Underdog, making him the No. 14 wide receiver. He’s not quite that expensive everywhere, but he’s going to cost you somewhere between a third- and fourth-round pick.
Still, it feels like a pretty reasonable price tag. He finished as WR20 in PPR leagues last season in a year where almost everything went wrong for the Eagles’ offense. They were 19th in points per game and 22nd in passing yards per game, both of which were significant decreases from previous years.
That gives Smith plenty of paths to improvement next season. He could get a boost purely from an efficiency standpoint just by the Eagles’ offense getting better. He could also see a boost in volume with Brown no longer in town.
Smith currently checks in as the consensus WR14 in our fantasy football rankings, which is right in line with his price tag in drafts. However, some of our rankers are a bit more bullish. Ian Hartitz has him at WR11, while Dwain McFarland has him at WR12.
Ultimately, Smith offers solid upside without a ton of downside. He’s been an ironman throughout his career, missing just four total games through his first five seasons. If he can post a WR20 finish with everything working against him last year, he could certainly crack the top 10 next year.
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