With the 2026 NFL Draft now within the historical past books, we’re creating scouting studies for a number of the gamers the Dallas Cowboys drafted that we haven’t coated, together with the undrafted free agent class. Right this moment we’re taking a look at vast receiver Anthony Smith from East Carolina.
WREast Carolina PiratesSenior3-star rating6’2”192 lbs
Anthony Smith is from Huntingtown, Maryland and got here up as a late-blooming soccer participant with elite monitor velocity. In 2020 at N.C. State, he performed eight video games and flashed as a deep risk in a small position. He registered 5 catches for 69 yards and one landing,
In 2021, Smith appeared in all 12 video games and stayed a low-volume explosive-play specialist with 4 catches, 97 yards, one landing, with a 42-yard landing versus Furman. In 2022, his season was lower brief by harm and missed the final eight video games, and in 2023, he performed 10 video games in a reserve position and completed with two catches for 19 yards.
He transferred to East Carolina and instantly grew to become a featured vertical goal in 2024. He began all 13 video games and produced 41 catches, 799 yards, and 6 touchdowns with a number of 100-yard video games. Then in 2025, he made the total leap to go-to receiver for East Carolina with 65 catches, 1,053 yards, seven touchdowns, plus a 45-yard dashing landing at Temple. His signature second was the 2025 Navy Bowl, the place he gained Navy Bowl MVP after a bowl-record 156 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 4 catches.
786 Offensive Snaps100 Targets64 Receptions1,053 Receiving Yards81 Rec YPG8 Complete TDs376 YAC6 Dropped Passes6 Missed Tackles Forced40 First Downs110.1 Passer RTG When Targeted4 Penalties
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2025: First-Workforce All-American Athletic ConferenceMilitary Bowl MVP
Total- 51.8Speed- 93Acceleration- 96Agility- 80Strength- 56Catching- 69Route Working- 69Ball Monitoring- 80YAC Expertise- 76Blocking- 56Discipline- 90
Smith’s finest match is as a situational vertical field-stretcher and core particular teamer. He’s the man you gown on sport day to filter protection, run takeoff routes, deep overs, and punish single-high seems to be when defenses tilt to CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. Smith will compete for the WR4/WR5 place.
Anthony Smith is a straight-line burner and vertical weapon whose NFL worth begins with velocity and ends with spacing. He stresses safeties, forces corners to show and run, and opens room beneath for a major goal whereas additionally offering one-play explosive upside on go routes.
His ECU tape exhibits he can monitor the ball properly downfield, stack defenders when he will get a clear launch, end huge performs, and his background as an elite sprinter exhibits up in how shortly he eats cushion. The constraints are typical for late-round velocity receivers. He’s not a refined route technician but, could be disrupted by bodily press and re-routes, and the day-to-day consistency is what determines whether or not he turns into greater than a situational field-stretcher.
The projection is a WR4/5 kind who earns his game-day helmet through particular groups and velocity packages, with the upside to develop right into a rotational deep risk if his route craft and play power develop.
CONSENSUS OVERALL RANKING
313th(Consensus rating primarily based on the common rating from 90 main scoring companies, together with BTB)
