Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith can recognize dominant defensive back play when he sees it.
After all, Smith has forged a career as one of the ascending wide receivers across the NFL, posting 4,011 receiving yards with 27 touchdowns through his first four seasons.
So, when asked by reporters at his annual charity softball game in Allentown, it’s noteworthy that Smith singled out one Eagles rookie with a hard to pronounce last name as the draft pick who has impressed him most through OTA and minicamp practices.
“The guy from Texas? The safety?” Smith said, via Sports Illustrated.
That would be Eagles second-round draft choice, and former University of Texas standout Andrew Mukuba.
Mukuba, 5-foot-11 and 186 pounds, is very much in the mix to steal a starting safety job as a rookie, after intercepting five passes during his final season in Austin last fall an capping his collegiate career with a 69-tackle campaign.
Early returns from Smith have been positive on Mukuba’s work ethic, from watching him throughout the spring.
“Just seeing hm out there, seeing the way he moves around, things like that, the way he goes about his business,” Smith said, of Mukuba.
Andrew Mukuba’s Confidence Already Shining Through
Todd Kirkland | GettyPhiladelphia Eagles rookie safety Andrew Mukuba patterns his game after some of the top players at the position.
Mukuba has yet to play an NFL snap but is already brimming with confidence.
With the Eagles set to open training camp next month, Mukuba believes he has All-Pro upside, for a defense that set the pace across the league last season.
“There are guys like Budda Baker (Cardinals) and Brian Branch (Lions),” Mukuba told the Eagles’ official website, of who he compares himself to. “Who are similar in size to me and they have been guys I’ve kind of patterned myself after. I’m going to be aggressive and smart and play with everything I have. All my heart.
“I have a lot of energy and always have had energy and so for me to go out on the field and have fun, it’s kind of like being in the park with your friends playing ball and being physical and helping my team win. That’s all that matters – helping the Eagles win. I want to do my part, perfect my role, and enjoy everything about being a Philadelphia Eagle.”
Modeling his game after a two-time All-Pro like Baker, or Branch, who has made a Pro Bowl and become a focal point of the Detroit Lions’ ferocious defense is a strong starting point for Mukuba to build on and for the Eagles top drop into an already dominant defense.
Eagles’ Lane Johnson Praises Nick Sirianni’s ‘Evolution’
Nick Sirianni has come a long way as Philadelphia Eagles head coach.
Already with a Super Bowl ring on his finger, and two trips to Super Sunday on his resumè, Sirianni has made the postseason in each of his first four seasons, with the lone true blemishes being an NFC Wild Card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his first season, and dropping to Tampa, again, following a collapse from 10-1 in 2023 to losing to the Buccaneers in the wild card round.
However, from being mocked and ridiculed by sports talk radio callers in Philadelphia for his custom player t-shirts and motivational speeches as a rookie to becoming a Super Bowl champion poised to guide one of the NFL’s deepest rosters in a title defense, Sirianni is becoming one of the sport’s more accomplished coaches.
Ahead of the 2025 season getting underway, Eagles All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson has seen tremendous growth in his head coach.
“I think he’s evolved as he’s become a head coach,” Johnson said, during a recent appearance on FS1’s The Facility. “There’s things, you know, he had some vocal stuff on the sidelines, but he’s addressed stuff with the team when he’s wrong, and I think that makes him human, makes him vulnerable, and I think it makes guys communicate more effectively with him.”
Sirianni is set to open the 2025 season with a career .706 winning percentage, 6-3 record in the postseason, and one team now tasked with doing something that no Eagles team has done in franchise history; winning a second consecutive Super Bowl championship.
