Here comes some help for Atlanta’s pass rush, and from a source that would have seemed mighty unlikely even a month ago.
The Falcons announced Tuesday morning that they had signed Za’Darius Smith to a one year contract, bringing the 34-year-old into the fold after the team lost Jalon Walker for the year to injury and learned they will be without James Pearce Jr. for the first eight games of the season. The three-time Pro Bowler has 70.5 career sacks to his name over an 11 year career that has seen him play for the Ravens, Packers, Vikings, Browns, Lions, and Eagles.
The reason this signing is a surprise is that until quite recently, Smith was retired. He un-retired and worked out for the Browns, where he was widely expected to sign, but then wound up joining Atlanta instead.
The appeal of Smith is very easy to understand for the Falcons, who need experienced, productive players in their edge group. While Smith appeared in just five games a year ago for the Eagles, he’s been an asset as a pass rusher in every single year of his career and just had nine sacks back in 2024. Assuming Smith is healthy and can ramp up quickly, he’ll be a prominent piece of the rotation immediately, and both his size and history of providing solid run defense should earn him significant snaps out of the gate.
Smith will join Azeez Ojulari, Samson Ebukam, Cameron Thomas, and Bralen Trice at outside linebacker, and it would not stun me to see the team add one more player between now and Week 1.