Za'Darius Smith Flips to Atlanta, Works Out for Falcons Over Browns
The 33-year-old pass rusher with 70.5 career sacks tried out in Atlanta, a surprise pivot after he was expected to re-sign in Cleveland.
IDP upside only if he signs and the edge snaps materialize.
- 70.5 career sacks across five NFL teams
- 10.5 sacks in 25 games for Browns, 2023-24
- Falcons lose Pearce Jr. 8 games to suspension
- Jalon Walker out for season (ACL, Aug. 4)
- Three-time Pro Bowler, last in 2022
Za'Darius Smith just took a hard left turn. The veteran edge rusher, who many assumed was headed back to Cleveland, instead worked out for the Falcons — a team suddenly desperate for pass-rush help. Smith, who turns 34 next month, has racked up 70.5 sacks over a career that's touched the Ravens, Packers, Vikings, Browns and Lions.
The timing tells the whole story. Atlanta will be without rookie James Pearce Jr. for eight games due to a suspension, and Jalon Walker is done for the season after tearing an ACL on Aug. 4. That's a gutted edge room, and Smith — a three-time Pro Bowler as recently as 2022 — is exactly the kind of plug-and-play veteran a team reaches for when the depth chart falls apart in August.
The Cleveland Connection
There's a familiar face waiting in Atlanta. Kevin Stefanski, now the Falcons coach, was Smith's head coach in Cleveland, where Smith piled up 10.5 sacks across 25 games in 2023 and 2024 before a trade shipped him to Detroit. Reunions like this tend to move fast, which is why the Browns pivot to a workout with Atlanta raised eyebrows.
The wrinkle is Smith's recent path. He signed with the Eagles last September, then abruptly announced his retirement in October. Philadelphia cut him from the reserve/retired list earlier this year. So this isn't a player coming off a full, uninterrupted season — it's a 33-year-old with a stop-start last 12 months trying to prove he still has juice.
What It Means For Fantasy
For IDP managers, Smith is a name to file, not a name to grab. Nothing's signed yet — this was a workout, full stop. But the opportunity is real: if Atlanta inks him, the combination of Pearce's suspension and Walker's injury could hand Smith a genuine snap share and a path to weekly sack production in deeper defensive-lineup leagues.
The play here is patience. Watch for the actual signing before you burn a roster spot, and even then, treat Smith as a matchup-based IDP streamer rather than a set-and-forget starter. A 33-year-old coming off a retirement detour is a bet on situation, not on ceiling — let the contract news come first, then pounce if the edge role opens up.
