Za’Darius Smith has taken part in five of the Eagles’ six games this season, but his time with Philadelphia is abruptly coming to an end. The veteran pass rush announced on Instagram Monday that he is retiring. 
“Who would’ve thought that a kid from Greenville, Alabama, with just one year of high school football experience, would go on to play professional football in the NFL for 11 incredible years,” Smith’s announcement reads in part. “Football has transformed my life and my family’s lives forever – and for that, I’m forever grateful.”
Smith has served as a starter for much of his career, and he notched four sacks upon arriving via trade in Detroit last season. In spite of that, the three-time Pro Bowler remained unsigned through training camp. One day after opening the campaign, the Eagles signed Smith to a one-year deal. He has played in all five of the team’s games since then, logging a 38% snap share.
Today’s announcement comes as quite the surprise as a result, as Smith was in position to continue handling a rotational role with his latest team. Instead, his NFL career has come to an end. This decision is a personal one and not tied to his playing time in Philadelphia, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports. Nevertheless, an Eagles team which entered the campaign with questions about pass rush production will be shorthanded moving forward. This news could steer the team toward a trade for an edge rusher in the near future.
Smith entered the league as a fourth-round pick of the Ravens in 2015. He flashed potential with 5.5 sacks as a rookie, and after developing into a regular on defense posted 8.5 sacks in the final year of his rookie contract. That resulted in a big-ticket free agent deal with the Packers, the first of three NFC North teams Smith wound up playing for in his career.
Following his 2022 release from Green Bay, Smith seemed to have a Ravens reunion lined up. In the end, however, he signed with the Vikings. That did not lead to a lengthy tenure in Minnesota, as the Kentucky alum was traded to the Browns after one season. Smith was limited to just one game in 2021, but across his healthy campaigns with Green Bay and Minnesota he amassed 36 sacks. Expectations remained high for continued production with the Browns.
Smith was unable to establish himself as a long-term complement to Myles Garrett with a downturn in sack totals during his one full Cleveland campaign. After Aidan Hutchinson suffered a season-ending injury last year, Smith was named as a candidate to be dealt to the Lions. That took place as expected, and during this past offseason Smith remained in contact with Detroit even after being released in a cost-shedding move.
With no deal being worked out on that front, though, Smith eventually took a pact with the Eagles. The defending Super Bowl champions have lost two straight but they sit at 4-2 on the year and could again find themselves in contention for a deep postseason run in 2025. The team’s plans ahead of the deadline could now include the pursuit of a Smith replacement.
Smith will now turn his attention to his post-playing days at the age of 33. He exits the NFL with 154 combined regular and postseason appearances and nearly $91MM in career earnings.
This year sucks
Kinda figured it was going to be hard to repeat. Still let’s see if they overcome all this.
Howie has earned the trust of the fan base and ownership. But IMO:
1. Don’t go chasing any aging vets this year via trade. You’ve acquired the draft capital to use next year.
2. Something seems off this year with the team. They have the talent to go the distance this year for sure. But making short term decisions to try and win this year I think is foolish.
3. Focus on locking up the guys you need to get locked up. Carter and Davis on the DL for sure.
4. Do not trade Tanner McKee…. I think he is going to be the starter at some point in the future. I like Hurts and he is great at what he does. But I see Howie at some point moving off of Hurts in a big splash type of way. Certainly not this year. But I think there is a percentage chance that Hurts is moved in the offseason unless they win another super bowl this year. Plenty of teams would love Hurts to be leading them. Just look around….
I get what you are saying but why get rid of a QB thats taken the team to multiple SBs in a three year period? They could still repeat.
Outsiders point of view. Hurts is a good NFL QB, but the addition of Brown makes him look way better.
From my point of view this eagles offense needs to get back to leading the NFL in motion offense and RPO because I haven’t seen much of it this year.
I loved this guy in GB. He was so hungry when he first got to be a starter with us. Then after he experienced success he immediately became lazy and started taking plays off and it showed. I hope he enjoys retirement.
Who was that Bills player that retired at halftime about a decade ago? A vet that just didn’t need another losing season.That was classic!
@arty!. The great vontae davis.
Vontae Davis… RIP