Alabama football’s DeVonta Smith is smaller than you think.
While you would think that the tape could speak for itself, NFL teams still care about the physical characteristics of players. Alabama football fans know that the top concern during the 2021 NFL Draft is DeVonta Smith and his weight.
Smitty is certainly undersized. However, people have been looking for an exact weight to know for sure. He chose not to weigh in during the Senior Bowl or either of Alabama’s pro days. but he told anyone who would listen that he was 170 pounds.
While there was no NFL Combine, some prospects got to go through medical evaluations. Smith was one of them, and he officially weighed in at under 170. To be exact, he was 166 pounds and just over 6 feet tall.
This weight would be unprecedented. Many like to compare Smith to Marvin Harrison, but he weighed in at 181 pounds at the NFL Combine. Smitty would be one of the smallest players in the NFL, but it is not because of a lack of height.
What makes this even more surprising is that DeVonta Smith knew this measurement was coming. He didn’t have to worry about running or working out in Indianapolis. He could simply work on gaining weight to satisfy that threshold in the minds of NFL executives. If this is as high as he could get the number, he will likely play at a weight closer to 160 in the NFL.
Again, this should not hurt Smith. He dominated against physical receivers during his Alabama football career. He won against Jaycee Horn, Derek Stingley and Shaun Wade. He’s always been undersized, and he’s always dominated. It didn’t keep him from winning the Heisman, and it shouldn’t keep teams from drafting him.
While it shouldn’t hurt him, it easily could. NFL teams worry about physical thresholds more than you would think. They argue over the arm length of offensive tackles and the hand size of quarterbacks. They believe that adding half an inch to your wingspan will be the difference between becoming a star and a bust. If they draft DeVonta Smith early in the first round, they will be going against the grain.
We’ll see next week if DeVonta Smith drops, but whoever drafts the Alabama football legend will be getting a steal in the first round.