Philadelphia Eagles outside linebacker Connor Barwin was phenomenal last season, en route to the first Pro Bowl selection of his NFL career. Brandon Graham played well enough in limited snaps as the No. 3 that Chip Kelly felt comfortable releasing veteran Trent Cole and re-signing Graham as the new starter at the Predator position in defensive coordinator Billy Davis' 3-4 scheme.
Then, there's Marcus Smith.
Smith, the Eagles first-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, failed to make much of an impact during a rookie year which saw him participate in all of 68 snaps. There's little in the way of expectations for Smith in NFL Year Two - heck, the team has even begun cross-training defensive lineman Vinny Curry at outside linebacker in order to help shore up the position and maximize the talent available to them.
In short, if Smith makes an impact in 2015, it will be icing on the cake for an Eagles coaching staff that seems to now consider the former first-rounder an afterthought at this point.
Smith revealed recently that in speaking to Kelly this offseason, the notoriously hard-nosed head coach was very straightforward with him about what he needed to do to get on the field this season.
"He told me straight up, 'You've got to come back and you've got to be better than what you did,'" Smith said recently, via Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "That's all I needed to hear. I think he's been patient with me. But I'm not really trying to be patient with myself. I want to be out there and I want to be able to be productive because I know there's a short attention span in this league."
To be fair to Smith, some of his failure last season can be pinned on a mid-season position switch to inside linebacker after a spate of injuries sent DeMeco Ryans and Najee Goode to injured reserve and kept Mychal Kendricks on the shelf longer than expected.
Still, Smith believes a down rookie year may have affected his confidence, but that he's already gotten it back heading into 2015.
"My get-off was very, very good in college, but I kind of lost that when I got here," Smith said. "I lost my confidence being in the NFL. But now my confidence is back."
Per McLane, Smith has set himself specific goals for next season. He wants 10 sacks, 10 tackles-for-loss and four interceptions. While most Eagles fans will scoff at the notion of Smith putting together that kind of year, fellow Philly 'backer Graham believes Smith has that kind of potential.
"I think he let the fans get to him for not playing and hearing the B word - and trust me, I know about that 'bust' word,'" Graham said. "I think this year his focus is just on working hard because he knows he can play. Don't let nobody throw you off your game.
"Some people - you can get in their heads and that was one of his weaknesses last year that I told him he needed to get better with. And I'm already seeing he's getting there."
Smith's ability to garner snaps next year will go a long way toward determining the future of the outside linebacker position for the Eagles. If he can get on the field and stay there, the Eagles will have found their third outside linebacker and a position with little depth will suddenly look much stouter.
If he can't, former undrafted free agent Travis Long - who would have made the team last year had he not torn his ACL and is looking good this spring - likely has the No. 3 spot locked down and Smith's future in midnight green will very much be in question.
