It looked like a done deal in Cleveland. Then Za'Darius Smith took a Monday workout in Atlanta, and by Tuesday morning the Falcons had flipped him entirely. Jordan Schultz was first with word that Smith was in deep talks with the Browns before the Falcons made a late push and landed him instead.
Adam Schefter and Tom Pelissero both confirmed the deal within a minute of each other, with Pelissero noting the signing is going through Smith's agent, Erik Burkhardt of Roc Nation Sports.
Veteran pass rusher Za’Darius Smith is signing a 1-yr deal with the Falcons, per his agent @ErikBurkhardt
Schultz followed up with the numbers: a one-year deal worth $6M with incentives that can push it to $8M. He also framed it as an all-out blitz from Atlanta, saying the front office made sure the money was strong enough to close after Smith's workout impressed them, and that he'll now slot into Jeff Ulbrich's defense under GM Ian Cunningham.
The #Falcons are giving Za’Darius Smith a 1-year, $6M deal with incentives upside to $8M, per sources. Atlanta went on an all-out blitz to get Smith, and after a successful workout on Monday, they made sure the contract was strong enough to get him to sign and join Jeff Ulbrich’s defense. A key signing for GM Ian Cunningham.
The Falcons needed this one badly. Atlanta set a franchise record with 57 sacks last season, and a huge chunk of that pressure came from Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. Walker is out for the year with a torn ACL suffered in practice, and Pearce is starting the season on an 8-game NFL suspension. That's a gaping hole off the edge, and it's why the Falcons went hard after a 33-year-old with 70.5 career sacks instead of waiting on the board.
Smith's path back here has been a strange one. He announced his retirement in October 2025 after just 5 games with the Eagles, walking away with only 1.5 sacks to show for it. Now, less than a year later, he's un-retiring for a shot at a defense that badly needs a veteran presence — joining fellow one-year Falcons additions Samson Ebukam, Azeez Ojulari and Cameron Thomas in a rebuilt pass-rush room.
SleeperNFL summed up the whiplash for Browns fans who thought this one was locked.
For Cleveland, it's a swing and a miss on a player who reportedly had a Browns homecoming lined up. For Atlanta, it's a low-cost, incentive-laden flier on a guy who once posted 13.5 sacks in a season and still has juice left if his 2024 Browns tape is closer to the truth than his abbreviated Eagles stint. Whether Smith can give Ulbrich's defense anything close to that form again is the only question that matters now.