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Za'Darius Smith Seemingly Bashes Lions Trade in Deleted Cryptic Social Media Post

The star edge rusher is on the trade block, and that made the timing of this post all the more suspicious.

By Jason Schandl

Oct 13, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Browns defensive end Za'Darius Smith (99) in the tunnel against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Oct 13, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Browns defensive end Za'Darius Smith (99) in the tunnel against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
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UPDATE — Tuesday, Nov. 5th 8:15 a.m.: About 20 minutes after this story was initially posted with the headline "Za'Darius Smith Deletes Cryptic Social Media Post on Trade Deadline Morning," Adam Schefter announced that Smith had been traded to the Detroit Lions. That makes the post even more interesting, as it sounds an awful lot like he's not happy about the move. Considering the Lions are a Super Bowl contender, that seems unusual. Maybe he loves living in Cleveland? Or perhaps he feels like he's worth more than the return of 5th and 6th round draft picks. Below is the original story in full.

Week 9 proved that Jameis Winston isn't going to suddenly save the Cleveland Browns' season and make them playoff contenders. As a result, this is a team that could be a seller as Tuesday's trade deadline approaches. Probably the biggest name that seems to be on the block is Za'Darius Smith.

That made Smith's Twitter post on Tuesday morning catch a lot of eyes. He posted a simple "SMH".

Less than 30 minutes later, however, he deleted that post.

Before you dismiss this as a regular post, consider that his last actual post (not including a handful of retweets) was back on August 11th. Maybe it was "SMH, I put too much cream in my coffee," or "SMH daylight saving time has messed with my son's sleep and he won't let me sleep in." But this isn't a guy who tends to keep us updated with posts about mundane things like that.

It's not exactly reading tea leaves to draw the connection that an unhappy post on the morning of the trade deadline from a guy who is on the trade block and who almost never posts is probably related to his trade status.

That is a mighty suspicious series of events when you factor in his status as a potential trade piece and the timing of it coming on trade deadline morning. Is the full thought "SMH, I don't like that I've been traded"? Is it "SMH, I won't be traded and I wish I was"? Maybe "SMH, I don't like what team I've been traded to"?

For as great as Smith has been in Cleveland, most fans are hoping the news will be that he is traded. At 32 years old and with only one more year on his contract after this one, the draft picks Cleveland would receive in a deal are probably going to be more valuable to the team's long-term future than Smith would be.

And as a Pro Bowl edge rusher still playing at a high level, he has plenty in the tank to offer contenders. His sack total was down last year (5.5), but he already has 5.0 in 2024, and PFF still gave him an elite 87.4 pass rush grade (10th among 197 graded edge defenders) during that "down" year.

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