Eagles

Za’Darius Smith Explains Eagles Departure and Unretirement

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 27th, 2026 · 9:59 AM EDT

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Za’Darius Smith played five games for the Eagles last season before he abruptly retired.

He’ll play for the Falcons this season, and explained the situation Wednesday:

One of the most moving press conferences I've ever been a part of….

Za'Darius Smith retired in 2025 during his 11th NFL season, just five games after signing with Philadelphia, for personal reasons. Today he shared those reasons. Very emotional and said his mom always wanted… pic.twitter.com/d94v3QD3yT

— Kinsey Lee (@kinseyleetv) August 26, 2026

“I wasn’t supposed to retire… got a phone call from my mom’s doctor, telling me that she don’t have much longer to be on this Earth. So I let the team (the Eagles) know. Obviously they wasn’t trying to let me leave, but that was the only thing I had left. To retire. So I retired, dealt with that. After losing my mom I lost my grandma. Then after my grandma I just lost my dad. So obviously you know what I’ve been through.”

Man, that’s tough. He goes on to say that he got a phone call from an “A.B.” in Cleveland, which is presumably GM Andrew Berry. He worked out for the Browns but didn’t come to an agreement with them, and then a Falcons spot opened up due to injuries at the EDGE position.

Smith’s line about the Eagles is interesting. He says “Obviously they wasn’t trying to let me leave, but that was the only thing I had left. To retire.” I interpreted that to mean that the Eagles didn’t want to lose him as a player, but others are reading into it as though the Eagles were somehow blocking him from attending to personal matters. You would think the latter is less plausible since the Eagles are typically progressive and understanding when it comes to these kinds of things, Lane Johnson and Brandon Brooks being examples. But we don’t have all of the facts on this one.

For what it’s worth, Smith did post a retirement message on Instagram last October. He didn’t mention anything about personal issues, or family health, or anything like that, and he’s not required to do so. But the message itself was generic and perhaps that opened to the door to speculation, which, honestly, I didn’t see a lot of Eagles fans ripping the guy or being unfair to him. He was here for such a short time that I think the page was turned rather quickly.