Whatever the miscommunication, Smith will have his first opportunity for an in-division showdown with the Ravens in Week 4, while his first foray into enemy territory as Brown against his former team will come in Week 10.
He will return with a much bigger presence than he had when he first left Baltimore. After starting just 16 games with 18.5 sacks in his four seasons as Raven, Smith has had three Pro Bowl campaigns, all with double-digit sacks.
While he won’t struggle as much against his other two previous sides this season, Smith hasn’t hesitated to address the issues that arose during his tenure at both.
“For one thing, it wasn’t prepared properly,” Smith said when asked why he wanted to extend his contract in Minnesota. “When I was my senior year in Green Bay, I had the injury and a lot of teams started saying this and that about Z, but that wasn’t the point. I’m always a team person. You can call any player from any facility I’ve been to and ask them who Z really is. But a lot of people make up stories and it just didn’t work out. I hated that. I wish I could have stayed and been a Smith Bro at Preston but I’m just happy to be here now man and get a fresh start and continue my career here.
When asked another question about contracting, he clarified, “It was the guaranteed part. The first year was only guaranteed. I mean, now I’m basically in the same situation, but now it’s okay because I can get the chance to go into free agency next year.”
It turns out that an injury-related domino effect that started in Green Bay affected his contract security in Minnesota and culminated in his arrival in Cleveland, where Smith would join Myles Garrett to form a fearsome pass-rushing duo for a Browns team, that hasn’t done better than third in the division since 2007.
Despite struggling with a knee injury and logging just 0.5 sacks in his last seven games last year after hitting 9.5 in his first nine games, Smith is confident he can start in the first half of 2022 can still be the Za’Darius.
“A lot of people didn’t know that my contract stipulated that I had to play every game to get my bonus,” Smith explained. “In certain situations, the coaches have told me to give everything we can and then we’ll just give you guys a break. So I wasn’t as effective as I was at the beginning of the season, but now I’m completely healthy. Ready to go.”
So Smith, 30, appears to be back to health, and reporters noted he looked incredibly happy, too.
Smith had a simple explanation for why.
“Because it’s the beginning of something special,” he said.