Za’Darius Smith is walking away from the NFL in the middle of his 11th season in the league, leaving the Philadelphia Eagles to ponder whether their edge-rush rotation needs retooling.
The outside linebacker announced his decision Monday, four days after the Eagles lost to the New York Giants.
‘I knew this day would come — but now that it’s here, I’m feeling so many emotions I never expected,’ Smith wrote in the caption to an Instagram post. ‘Who would’ve thought that a kid from Greenville, AL, with just one year of high school football experience, would go on to play professional football in the NFL for 11 incredible years!’
A three-time Pro Bowl selection, Smith signed with the Eagles on Sept. 5, helping retool a pass rush that lost Josh Sweat and Milton Williams in free agency. He had 1½ sacks but recorded a season-low 17 snaps in the loss to the Giants.
Smith finishes his career with 70½ sacks, which had been tied for 13th among active players.
A fourth-round pick out of Kentucky in 2015, Smith first rose to prominence with the Baltimore Ravens. He then earned two Pro Bowl nods with the Green Bay Packers from 2019-2020, recording 26 sacks in that span. He went on to play for the Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions.
Smith’s departure further thins out a group already hurting from injuries. Outside linebacker Nolan Smith remains on injured reserve for at least two more games and is expected to be out through the team’s Nov. 2 bye, according to multiple reports. That leaves Jalyx Hunt, Joshua Uche, Parick Johnson and Azeez Ojulari as the team’s in-house options on the edge.
If general manager Howie Roseman is to make a splashy addition, he’ll need to do so before the Nov. 4 trade deadline.
