When the Eagles acquired jack of all trades Brad Smith, it was obvious to wonder whether he’d serve as the emergency quarterback, especially with Mike Vick still dealing with a twice-injured hamstring.
Not so, says coach Chip Kelly.
“I don’t think we can put all that on his plate,” Kelly told reporters on Wednesday. “He’s got to come in here learn four core special teams and what we’re doing offensively and then to now tell him he’s got to learn multiple positions on offense. [We’ll] start him at receiver, hopefully as the season goes along maybe that’s the case. If we had to play today, that wouldn’t be the case.”
Instead, the emergency quarterback (i.e., guy who hands the ball off over and over) will be James Casey.
But Smith will indeed be busy.
“He can cover kickoffs,” Kelly said. “He’s returned kickoffs. He’s been on the punt team. He’s been on the punt rush team. . . . And as we design this thing, we want our receivers, if you’re not the starter, you need to be able to play special teams.”
And so that’s what Smith will do. For a guy who hasn’t played any football so far this year, it’s unlikely that he’ll complain.