Za’Darius Smith (shoulder) will play in Week 1

Smith signed with the Eagles and appeared in five games before abruptly announcing his retirement in October of last year. He worked out for the Browns, one of his many former teams, as recently as last week. Now Jonathan Jones of the Athletic reports the Falcons have signed Smith for pass rush help. It’s unclear how much the 33-year-old EDGE has left in the tank. The last time Smith played a full season was in 2024 when he recorded nine sacks in 17 games with the Browns and Lions.

Smith, 33, retired in October 2025 as a member of the Eagles. The team released him from the reserve/retired list in June, officially making him a free agent. He is apparently hoping to continue his career. Smith played for the Browns in Weeks 1-9 during the 2024 season before being traded to the Lions.

Smith announced his retirement in the middle of the 2025 season after signing a one-year deal with Philly just ahead of Week 1. His release makes him a free agent and is an indication that he plans to return to football this year. Smith totaled 1.5 sacks in five games with the Eagles last year. He is likely a part-time player at this point in his career, but Smith still has enough left in the tank to contribute on a playoff-caliber roster.

The details of the contract have yet to be released. Harris used to be a regular starter for the Texans but was relegated primarily to special teams duties in 2025. He was credited with a single start and managed just 11 tackles across 15 games. He will hope to find more work on defense in Atlanta.

This one comes as a bit of a surprise after Smith signed a one-year contract with the Eagles shortly before Week 1, and played in the team’s Week 6 loss to the Giants on Thursday night. The former fourth-round pick who first entered the league with the Ravens in 2015 walks away from the game with 70.5 career sacks on his resumé to go with 87 TFLs and 10 forced fumbles. Smith’s most productive seasons came with the Packers, who he signed a four-year contract with during the 2019 offseason. He earned back-to-back Pro Bowl nods during his first two years in Green Bay, racking up 26 sacks over that span and also received Second-Team All-Pro honors in 2020. Smith’s decision to walk away leaves an already banged up Eagles defense another man short. They will likely look to bring on another veteran pass rusher in the coming days to make up for his absence.

After sitting out all offseason, Smith hooks on with the Eagles on a ring-chaser contract for the season. Smith had nine sacks as well as 50 hurries per PFF charting in 2025. He’ll give Philadelphia a sure-fire outside rusher on passing downs and possibly could have a bigger role than that depending on how thing shake out in the defensive line rotation.

Smith has been linked to the Lions all offseason, with both sides noting that they had mutual interest and Brad Holmes hinting that Smith had no interest in going through training camp at this stage of his career. With Josh Paschal out an extended period of time, the Lions interest likely has only grown in a reunion at this point.

“Everything’s not just one-sided. Za’Darius has expectations, the team has expectations. Sometimes it takes a while for those things to get on the same page, especially a guy that’s been in the league as long as he has. You know, I’m sure that — I’m not saying that he doesn’t want to be in training camp, but if he misses some time (it’s not the worst thing),” Holmes added. It sounds like Smith will probably sign closer to September, and that the Lions likely remain one of the main contenders for his services.

Harris dealt with calf and ankle injuries last season that resulted in him missing 14 regular season games. The fourth-year linebacker and former third-round pick racked up 101 tackles in 2023 after starting 12 of the 16 games he appeared in and broke up a career-best seven passes. While he has not been on the field for voluntary workouts, it sounds as if any absence pertaining to his injuries should be a non-concern by the time camp rolls around.

“We just weren’t in a position to keep him at his salary. Because, look, he played some good snaps for us and he made plays for us when we acquired him, so we would have loved to been able to keep him. We just weren’t able to. ... We’ll just see how it goes,” Holmes continued. Smith’s market has been pretty quiet so far despite another big season with nine sacks and 63 pressures, but that does seem to be the way the market goes sometimes with players entering their age-33 season. We’ll probably get more clarity on where Smith will wind up after the draft. Smith would be a nice late-wave pickup in free agency for many teams at this point.