{"id":82527,"date":"2024-01-20T02:11:03","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T02:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/?p=82527"},"modified":"2024-01-20T02:11:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T02:11:03","slug":"pff-suggests-falcons-should-pursue-browns-11-7-million-star-kieu-linh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/pff-suggests-falcons-should-pursue-browns-11-7-million-star-kieu-linh\/","title":{"rendered":"PFF Suggests Falcons Should Pursue Browns\u2019 $11.7 Million Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following a 45-14 loss to the\u00a0Houston Texans\u00a0to kick off the NFL Playoffs, the\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0are now in offseason mode. And executive VP of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry certainly has his work cut out for him.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Cleveland-Browns-ZaDarius-Smith.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Cleveland Browns Za'Darius Smith\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Not only do the Browns face significant salary-cap concerns, but they\u2019ve also got\u00a026 pending free agents, one of the most notable names being three-time Pro Bowl edge rusher\u00a0Za\u2019Darius Smith, who Cleveland acquired last May in a surprise trade with the\u00a0Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n<p>Despite not putting up the numbers he has in the past, Smith could still fetch a pretty penny in free agency, and the Browns may not be able to afford his services, given their financial issues.<\/p>\n<p>As such, if the Browns opt not to bring Smith back to play opposite\u00a0Myles Garrett,\u00a0Pro Football Focus believes\u00a0the\u00a0Atlanta Falcons\u00a0should pursue the 31-year-old with this assessment:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Falcons struggled to generate much pressure off the edge in 2023, and while they will be encouraged by Arnold Ebiketie\u2019s development in his second NFL season, a veteran presence would be a wise addition. Smith has earned an 84.0 PFF pass-rushing grade or better in each of his past four seasons with at least 100 pass-rushing snaps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Falcons haven\u2019t really had a dominant pass rusher since John Abraham left town following the 2013 season, so signing Smith to a short-term deal could be worth it. And Atlanta is in a far better position than Cleveland to make a run at him.<\/p>\n<h2>The Falcons Have a Much Better Salary-Cap Situation Than the Browns<\/h2>\n<p>Heading into the 2024 NFL offseason,\u00a0Spotrac projects the Browns\u00a0to be $13.86 million over the salary cap.<\/p>\n<p>Quarterback Deshaun Watson, of course, is the major factor there, as his cap hit for the 2024 season is $63.977 million, the largest in league history. But he\u2019s certainly not Cleveland\u2019s only high-paid player, as\u00a0Amari Cooper,\u00a0Denzel Ward, and Myles Garrett have a combined cap hit of $67.39 million.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The one free agent each team should sign this offseason, per <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF_Gordon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@PFF_Gordon<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/awIIMA77CK\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/awIIMA77CK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; PFF (@PFF) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF\/status\/1747997281167540445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>And while Berry is almost certain to restructure Watson\u2019s contract for the second straight season to free up space, there likely won\u2019t be any room for Za\u2019Darius Smith, who played this past season on a one-year\/$11.71 million deal.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Spotrac\u00a0projects the Falcons to have $29.88 million in available cap space, a number likely to rise even further once Atlanta makes a few cuts. So they\u2019ll be in a much better position to pursue Smith if they so choose.<\/p>\n<h2>Za\u2019Darius Smith Still Has Plenty Left in the Tank<\/h2>\n<p>Coming off his lone season with the Vikings in which he recorded 44 tackles, 10 sacks, 5 passes defended, and 1 forced fumble, Smith\u2019s stats weren\u2019t quite as impressive with the Browns in 2023 with 27 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 3 passes defended, and 1 forced fumble.<\/p>\n<p>However, the decline in simple stats doesn\u2019t mean he wasn\u2019t effective. For instance, Smith racked up 29 QB pressures, good for a tie for 27th among all NFL defensive players. And overall, his mere presence on the Browns\u2019 line forced teams to pay extra attention to more than just a single pass-rusher, thus opening up more opportunities for Garrett.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Za&#39;Darius Smith&#39;s 2023 regular season (Year 9) : 27 tackles, 8 for loss, 5.5 sacks, 20 QB hits, 3 passes defensed &amp; a forced fumble in 16 games (1st season in Cleveland) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wLRnsqR3c8\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/wLRnsqR3c8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MusikFan4Life\/status\/1745930449392689253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 12, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Now, that same mere presence might not mean quite as much with the Falcons, who obviously don\u2019t have a defender comparable to Garrett. However, perhaps Smith would rise to the challenge of once again being <em>the guy<\/em>\u00a0on a defensive line, even if he\u2019d have to battle two-time Pro Bowler\u00a0Grady Jarrett for that title, assuming Jarrett recovers nicely from the torn ACL that ended his season in Week 8.<\/p>\n<p>But if nothing else, as PFF noted, adding a savvy veteran could do nothing but benefit the Atlanta locker room, especially a veteran who still has plenty of gas left in the tank.<\/p>\n<p>Za\u2019Darius Smith will undoubtedly earn some solid game checks during the 2024 season. But will they come from the Browns, the Falcons, or someone else? We\u2019ll find out soon enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following a 45-14 loss to the\u00a0Houston Texans\u00a0to kick off the NFL Playoffs, the\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0are now in offseason mode. And executive VP of football operations and general manager&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}