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The New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles have a long-standing rivalry that goes back to 1933 and have played some of the most memorable games in the history of the league over that time.
Many rivalries soften as time passes but the Giants-Eagles one just seems to get more heated with each passing year. Last season, in Week 17, the Giants needed the Eagles to defeat the Washington Football Team in the final game of the NFL’s regular season schedule in order to win the NFC East Division title.
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Eagles head coach Doug Pederson (who has since been fired) decided to bench starting quarterback Jalen Hurts in the fourth quarter of a 17-14 game in favor of life-long backup Nate Sudfeld, who was awful, leading to the Eagles simply surrendering on offense and eventually losing the game, 20-14.
The WFT won the NFC East instead of the Giants but the Eagles’ malfeasance didn’t end there. At the NFL draft this year, the Giants had the 11th overall selection. Dallas owned the 10th pick and the Eagles the 12th.
As the top 10 was rounding out, it appeared that Alabama wide receiver and reigning Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith would fall to the Giants at No. 11 as Dallas was going to zero in on defensive players in this draft. Even Smith himself expected the Giants to take him at No. 11.
But instead of taking a defensive player, the Cowboys accepted a trade from the Eagles to swap picks. Philly then took Smith with the 10th pick, leaving the Giants out in the cold. The Giants then traded their pick to Chicago, who took Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, and Dallas selected Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons at No. 12.
The Giants ended up on their feet, getting four total picks from the Chicago Bears, including a 2022 first-rounder and the No. 20 pick this year which they used to select Florida wide receiver Kadarius Toney.
Through no fault of his own, Smith becomes a fresh bone of contention, so to speak, between the Giants and Eagles. The kid has no idea of the additional burden he will be carrying when the two teams meet two a year for the next decade.
“I mean with the draft you never know what to expect. You never know who’s going to trade up, trade down, so I mean things just kind of happened,” Smith told reporters. “From what I’ve heard and the things that I’ve seen, I’ve seen that the rivalry is pretty big just from that moment. But I mean, like, I didn’t know what to expect, it’s the draft. Anything can really happen.”
And now Smith becomes the latest log thrown onto an 88-year-old fire that is burning hotter than ever.
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