Nobody feels bad for DeVonta Smith or A.J. Brown, not with the millions of dollars they've made, with millions more to come. They both just signed lucrative, long-term extensions with the Philadelphia Eagles. They're doing fine. They also could have been doing better. That is one of the realities of NFL free agency, that it can be about timing as much as talent.
' It's not that the market was misread, though. Everyone in the league could see where receivers' salaries were going. Brown — who had 106 catches for 1,456 yards last season — set the market while surely knowing that Jefferson was going to top it. Smith didn't sign his extension in a vacuum either. He knew where it ranked — and where it would rank — among his wide receiver peers.