BEREA, Ohio — Browns defensive end Za’Darius Smith was back on the practice field Thursday after sitting out Wednesday with an illness — but will he be here after the 4 p.m. trade deadline on Tuesday?
Smith, who leads the Browns with 5.0 sacks this season — one more than reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garett – has been linked in trade rumors to the Lions, who are trying to replace premier edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who’s out for the season with a torn tibia and fibula that required surgery. With the Browns at 2-6 and a longshot to make the playoffs, they’ll be willing to trade some players by Tuesday, especially if they lose to the 4-3 Chargers on Sunday.
It’s no easy task replacing Hutchinson, who led the NFL with 7.5 sacks when he got hurt, and is still tied for third despite the fact he played in only five games. The two players ahead of him have played in eight. He’s also still tied for second in the league with 45 pressures.
Like everyone else in the NFL world, Smith has seen and heard the rumors that he could get dealt to the Lions or someone else, especially if the Browns lose on Sunday. If they win, they might not want to part with their leading-sacker, because at 3-6 and their next game against the 2-6 Saints after the bye, they could go on a little run and give themselves a chance.
In a perfect world, the Lions would acquire a premier edge rusher such as the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby or Garrett, but they’re both likely off limits. Cleveland.com has reported that the Browns aren’t trading Garrett, and Garrett indicated he’s been reassured of that. But Smith? He’ll undoubtedly pique the Lions’ interest and that of other teams.
“Shoot, man, that’s not in my control,” Smith, 32, told cleveland.com. “I can’t control that. I know that’s an AB push (GM Andrew Berry).”
So they haven’t given him a little heads up that he could be going to Detroit, where the Lions will undoubtedly express interest if they haven’t already?
“Oh, you think I’m going to Detroit?” he said with a laugh. “You think it’s Detroit?”
Maybe?
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”
Would you be up for it?
“What else can I do?”
In his 10th NFL season, would it be fun for him to go to a Super Bowl-contending team like the 6-1 Lions?
“Obviously it would, but, hey, it’s football,” he said. “I still get paid.”
Acquired by the Browns in a trade with the Vikings before last season, Smith got off to a slow start in Jim Schwartz’ defense last year, notching only 2.5 sacks in his first 12 games before tacking on three more in his last four to finish second on the team to Garrett (16.0) with 5.5.
This season, he got off to a strong start with a sack of Dak Prescott in the opener, and has a sack in five of the eight games. At his current clip, he’ll finish the season with 10.5 for his fourth double-digit sack season in his last five full campaigns.
He recorded 13.5 and 12.5 in Green Bay in 2019 and 2020, and 10 in Minnesota in 2022, when he got off to a torrid start and was in the conversation for NFL Defensive Player of the Year before tailing off because of a back injury.
“I feel like getting traded (here) last year was me just getting my feet wet,” Smith said. “Obviously I played in a 3-4 system my whole career. And then coming here switching to a 4-3, I was more of a react-attack type guy (before). And now here I’m an attack-react type guy. So it was new for me a little bit, but I’m getting the hang of it. And obviously you can see that I’m making more plays now.”
Smith recorded one of the Browns’ three sacks of the elusive Lamar Jackson in last Sunday’s 29-24 victory over the Ravens, but Schwartz believes he left some on the field.
“He’s another guy that had a couple missed opportunities in this game, but he’s been slippery in the pass rush,” Schwartz said Thursday. “He’s been playing with great effort, and he’s always been a super tough guy that understands football and those kinds of things. I don’t necessarily think it’s second-year more comfortable as much as it is he’s finishing some plays that last year he didn’t necessarily finish. And had sacks that sort of slipped out of his grasp or he made a great rush, and the quarterback had just gotten rid of the ball. I think if you just sort of just compare what happened on the play, it’s been very consistent last year to this year.”
Smith, who signed a two-year free agent deal with the Browns in the offseason worth $23 million, including $10.79 million guaranteed, is playing so well that he might have to change his address.
“I’m seeing that now,” he said with a laugh. “When you do good, you’ve got to get traded.”
Of course the Browns, who got a huge lift last week from Jameis Winston in their upset of the Ravens, could hang onto Smith if they beat the Chargers to improve to 3-6. The Rams made the playoffs last season after starting 3-6, and three NFL teams have made it after starting 2-6, including the 2020 Commanders and 2022 Jaguars. It’s a longshot to be sure, but not impossible.
“Yeah, we could be a contender,” Smith said. “I think (we can get on a roll). We’re doing a great job putting points on the board (now) and holding teams to a lot of stops. Losing one of our brothers, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (neck) last week, that was hard, because he was the heart of our defense. But now we’ve got a young cat in Mohamoud (Diabate) going back there, and he’s doing a great job now. So hopefully we just stay on track, man, and keep winning.”
Smith was also happy for his longtime friend Winston, who threw for 334 and 3 TDs to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors in his first start for the Browns.
“I’ve always believed in Jameis,” he said. “We actually came out in the same draft. He was the first pick of the 2015 draft, and he’s also from Alabama, so a brother from Alabama, man, I’m always supporting him for sure.”
The Browns might contemplate trading other veterans such defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson, who’s been inactive for three games this season because of a surplus at the spot, but if they beat the Chargers, they might tweak the trade strategy a tad.
In the meantime, Smith knows that Sunday could be his last game as a Brown.
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