Za’Darius Smith was supposedly set to sign with the Cleveland Browns, if one believed the reports coming out of The Land over the weekend. But there is a significant problem with those reports.
Smith, a three-time Pro Bowl player with 70 1/2 career sacks, doesn’t think that’s necessarily true.
And he called out one of the reporters who supposedly broke the news. And then he worked out for the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.
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So we have a lot going on here, none of it good for Cleveland.
Let’s get specific:
The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com reported Sunday that Smith was set to sign with the Browns, and as late as noonish Monday was describing the negotiations as possibly being “finalized today.”
Except Smith, who has played on six teams in his 11 seasons, has a say in the matter and he was in Atlanta. And he called out the reports of him heading to Cleveland.
“I haven’t signed yet,” Smith wrote on social media, adding the bulging eyes emoji. “I have another workout tomorrow morning with a different team! Who told you to post this?”
Yeah, whoops.
The NFL wire that tracks workouts and other league transactions indeed had Smith working out for the Falcons on Monday.
And aside from that perhaps causing some embarrassment among some media, it creates an intriguing situation as two teams clearly have interest in the same player.
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The Browns obviously want Smith because he played for them for two seasons, started 25 games, collected 10 sacks and 27 quarterback hits.
The Falcons potentially want Smith because they have a need and coach Kevin Stefanski, who is in his first year with the club, coached Smith when the two were with the Browns…
…Before the Browns fired Stefanski.
LOL.
This would be the perfect spot for speculation about Stefanski wanting to stick it to his former team that fired him, while at the same time helping himself, but we’re above such speculation here. Maybe.
It obviously serves Smith to have two teams bidding for his services rather than one. It would also be a statement of what Smith thinks of his old coach if he chooses Atlanta over Cleveland.
Browns coach Todd Monken was asked about Smith on Monday and punted the issue to general manager Andrew Berry.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Monken said. “I really don’t know where it’s at, so I’ll leave that to Andrew.”
The Falcons, meanwhile, may have a more urgent need than the Browns.
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Former first-round pick Jalon Walker tore his ACL early in training camp and is out for the entire season. Former first-round pick James Pearce ran afoul of the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy and is suspended the first eight games of the season.
The Falcons are in desperate need of pass rush help.
And if outbidding the Browns or coaxing Smith to join them over the Browns is a way to fill the need, well, that would be kind of interesting given everything that is at play.
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