10:05pm: VanSumeran suffered a torn patellar tendon on Thursday night against the Cowboys, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. He will miss the rest of the season as a result.
3:30pm: The Eagles have signed one of the league’s top remaining free agents in edge rusher Za’Darius Smith, per a team announcement.
Smith met with the team in Philadelphia on Friday and passed a physical prior to signing a one-year deal with a maximum value of $9MM, according to FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz. He will bring a veteran presence to an Eagles edge rushing room that was considered to be one of the team’s weaknesses after losing Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham this offseason.
Smith, who turns 33 years old on Monday, is coming off another solid season with nine sacks and nine tackles for loss in 17 games. He spent the first half of the year in Cleveland before a deadline deal sent him to Detroit. Smith remained linked with the Lions throughout the offseason, but he instead lands in Philadelphia in another savvy move by Eagles general manager Howie Roseman.
Under the CBA, veteran players receive a base salary guarantee if they are on a team’s active roster in Week 1, according to OverTheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald. Veterans signed after Week 1 do not automatically receive a guaranteed salary. Since the Eagles and the Cowboys were the first two teams to finish their Week 1 game on Thursday night, they had the first chance at signing Smith to a non-guaranteed deal. Teams may not have been willing to offer Smith a strong salary before the season since it would have become guaranteed, but the Eagles were able to offer him enough upside while managing their own risk before any club got the chance.
In Philadelphia, Smith will join young edge rushers Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Josh Uche, Azeez Ojulari, and Ogbo Okoronkwo. Ojulari and Okoronkwo were inactive against the Cowboys with Uche and practice squad elevation Patrick Johnson rotating in behind Nolan Smith and Hunt, per Geoff Mosher of PhillyVoice. With Za’Darius Smith now joining the mix, there will be even fewer snaps to go around, and the Eagles may even consider parting ways with one of their depth edge rushers.
In a corresponding move to the Smith signing, the Eagles placed fullback Ben VanSumeren on injured reserve, sidelining him for at least four games.
Like the move. Can bring a veteran presence to the defense which is needed.
We don’t need him to put up monster numbers, just solid in the rotation
I would rather Stefon Gilmore.
Jackson got lucky Lamb dropped passes last night. Could have given up over 200 yards.
No kidding. Jackson is terrible.
Nice add. I’m still surprised Detroit didn’t do this.
Makes you wonder why the team who had him decided they had enough…seems like a repeat occurrence for Z
Yeah, me too. It seemed too obvious with all of the off-season flirtation, but this is a fantastic scoop by the Eagles.
Z is a dbag. I know Detroit is worried about Davenport (and rightly so) but Z’s play no longer can cash the checks his attitude writes.
Detroit is better off.
He’s a Bum!
Just a desperate move by Howie…it won’t be his last…D is in trouble in my opinion..
He’s overrated. Was mediocre in Detroit last year. No way worth 9 mill per year. That’s why 31 other teams passed on him.
Max is $9M, not the base
His max is Yetur-Gross Matos money. Best case scenario he makes less than a good veteran edge rusher.
9 sacks is overrated?
A 74.7 rating is a bum? I would take a majority of my teams players scoring a pff grade of 74+.
He freelances a ton to hunt big plays and then depends on others to cover his backside then blames others when his mistakes cost chunk plays. It’s not ideal in a team sport.
We can just skip to the part where it’s the chiefs and the eagles again in the all referee bowl 2026
I’m not exactly endorsing this comment, but I have to say that it made me chuckle.
Awesome signing!
Maybe trade for Trey if Smith isn’t the answer but I hope Smith will be.
As on his last hurrah the birds aren’t going to be back to back champs because they just signed the locker room destroyer he can’t get along with teammates just look. THE MR DISTRUCTOR.
He seems like a potential VanSumeren replacement in addition to the other ways we’ll potentially utilize him that have been mentioned.
Ignore this, accidentally posted.