Nolan Smith takes a huge step toward his return from IR

Smith has been recovering from a pectoral injury

By Dave Zangaro • Published November 4, 2025

The Eagles on Tuesday afternoon officially opened Nolan Smith’s 21-day practice window, the first step toward his return from Injured Reserve.

Smith, 24, has been on IR since Sept. 24 with a pectoral injury. He played in the Eagles’ first three games of the season before landing on IR.

The Eagles are expected to kick off their practice week on Thursday ahead of their game on Monday night and Smith will be on the practice field with the rest of his teammates. In recent weeks, Smith has been more visible around the team, hinting at an upcoming return.

At the time the Eagles placed Smith on IR, it was clear they were targeting a Week 10 return after the bye week. That’s upcoming when the Eagles face the Packers on Monday Night Football in Green Bay in six days.

In addition to the move to open Smith’s practice window, the Eagles also released OLB Patrick Johnson from the 53-man roster and released WR Terrace Marshall from the practice squad. Johnson is a candidate to rejoin the team’s practice squad.

If Smith is going to play on Monday night, the Eagles will still have to activate him to their 53-man roster. After releasing Johnson, they have a roster spot available.

While Smith didn’t have a sack in the first three games of this season, he came on strong late last year. Including the playoffs, Smith had 10 1/2 sacks in his final 16 games last season. He had four sacks in the Eagles’ four-game playoff run before tearing his triceps in Super Bowl LIX. Smith was able to finish that game before having offseason surgery.

The Eagles’ edge rusher position hasn’t been very strong all season but that could change as they return from the bye week. Not only is there a chance that Smith will return, but the Eagles will get Brandon Graham back after he came out of retirement and this week traded away a 2026 third-round pick to acquire Jaelan Phillips from the Dolphins.

The Eagles' entire edge rusher group this season has just 4 1/2 sacks and 1 1/2 of them belong to Za’Darius Smith, who abruptly retired earlier in the season. Their rotation for the rest of 2025 should include Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith, Phillips, Graham and Josh Uche.

The Eagles drafted Smith with the No. 30 overall pick out of Georgia in the 2023 draft. While Smith had a somewhat quiet rookie season, he broke out after a slow start in his second year. Smith will become eligible for a contract extension after the conclusion of the 2025 regular season.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eagles-open-nolan-smith-practice-window-roster-moves/693831/

Hopefully he can go on Monday and we can get him back in to the fold together with BG and our new addition Phillips. That could give us a lot of options and a lot of freshness to hopefully get after Love.

I think I'd sit him one more week. Give him as much rest and treatment as possible. It's not like he was playing great when he did play earlier in the season. He was probably still nursing an injury.