BEREA — The Browns got another pass rusher for new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
He’s a big name with a strong resume.
The Browns agreed to a trade Friday night for Pro Bowl pass rusher Za’Darius Smith, a league source confirmed to The Chronicle-Telegram. He joins All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett.
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The Browns get Smith and sixth- and seventh-round draft picks in 2025. The Vikings get fifth-round picks in 2024 and 2025.
A key to the deal was the Browns negotiating a reworked contract for Smith, a three-time Pro Bowler. He’ll receive $11.75 million in 2023 and then become a free agent, NFL Network reported. The Vikings were looking to create salary cap space.
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Smith, 30, signed a three-year, $42 million contract with the Vikings last March, but it included just $6.45 million fully guaranteed. He was coming off a 2021 season in which he played only one game with the Packers due to a bulging disk in his back, but had 10 sacks in 16 games for Minnesota last season. He added 44 tackles, 15 for loss, 24 quarterback hits, five passes defensed and a forced fumble.
Smith (6-foot-4, 272 pounds) tweeted goodbye to Minnesota in March, but the Vikings weren’t ready or willing to release him.
“We are in ongoing communication with (Za’Darius) and his representatives,” Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah told reporters last month. “We try to be solutions-oriented here. That’s what we’ll always talk about, and sometimes solutions come from different places or whatever. He’s a great member of our team last year and we’ll keep the conversation ongoing.”
Adofo-Mensah came from the Browns and is good friends with Cleveland GM Andrew Berry.
This is likely the last big move of a busy offseason for Berry. Despite signing Ogbonnia Okoronkwo to a three-year, $19 million deal as a free agent and drafting Missouri’s Isaiah McGuire in the fourth round, the Browns wanted more experience and pass rush ability at end to support Garrett, who had a franchise-record 16 sacks in each of the last two seasons.
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Smith has 54.5 sacks in eight seasons, including four with at least 8.5. He’s played 4-3 defensive end and 3-4 outside linebacker and made the Pro Bowl in 2019, ’20 and ’22 and was second-team All-Pro in 2020. He’ll be an end in Schwartz’s 4-3 scheme.
“Let’s eat @zadariussmith,” Okoronkwo tweeted.
Smith began his career in 2015 as a fourth-round pick of the Ravens. He was mostly a part-time player, then signed with the Packers in 2019. He started all 32 games and totaled 26 sacks in his first two seasons in Green Bay.
He’ll be part of a rebuilt defensive line that will be a focus of Schwartz’s attacking system. Not only did Berry add the ends, at tackle he signed Dalvin Tomlinson to a four-year, $57 million contract in March, drafted Siaki Ika in the third round and signed veterans Maurice Hurst II and Trysten Hill.
