DE · Atlanta Falcons · #53

Za'Darius Smith

RDE2Questionable · Neckwk 7 report

College: East Mississippi JC
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 270 lb
Experience: 12th season

+ Compare Contract

Season

Sacks

4.5▲ 3.0 vs '25

6th of 119 DL

Pressures

8▲ 3 vs '25

38th of 119 DL

Pressure rate

7.6%▲ 3.8 vs '25

1st of 119 DL

Run stops

2▼ 3 vs '25

113th of 119 DL

Tackling

7 tkl

6 tfl · 8 stops · 0 ff

Ranks compare against the 118 qualifying defensive linemen on the 2026 leaderboard plus Smith.

Week-by-week

Pressures by game, dashed line = 2025 per-game average

2026 game log

	Usage		Tackling				Pass rush			Coverage
Game	Defensive snapsSnaps played on defense (Pro Football Reference snap counts).	Snap shareShare of the team's defensive snaps played, in the games the player appeared in.	TacklesSolo plus assisted tackles.	StopsTackles (solo or shared) that end a play the offense failed on, i.e. one with negative EPA. From play-by-play.	Tackles for lossTackles behind the line of scrimmage.	Missed tacklesMissed tackles (Pro Football Reference).	SacksSacks (half sacks count 0.5).	QB hitsHits on the quarterback.	PressuresHurries, QB hits and sacks combined (Pro Football Reference).	Targets allowedPasses thrown at the defender in coverage (Pro Football Reference).	Completion % allowedCompletions allowed per target in coverage.	Yards per target allowedReceiving yards allowed per target in coverage.	InterceptionsInterceptions made.	Passes defendedPasses broken up or intercepted.
Wk 1 @ PITL	16	23.9	2	3	3	0	2.0	2	2	1	0.0	0.0	0	0
Wk 2 vs CARL	28	41.8	2	2	1	0	0.5	1	4	0	–	–	0	1
Wk 3 @ GBW	33	50.0	1	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	–	–	0	0
Wk 4 @ NOW	1	1.0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	–	–	0	0
Wk 6 vs CHIL	16	21.1	1	1	1	0	1.0	1	1	0	–	–	0	0
Wk 7 vs SFW	11	16.9	1	1	1	0	1.0	1	1	0	–	–	0	0
Season	105	23.8	7	8	6	0	4.5	5	8	1	0.0	0.0	0	1

How he compares

2026 defensive linemen who qualify · dashed lines mark the group average

X axisY axis

Contract

signed 2026 with Falcons

$6Mover 1 year

Avg. per year: $6M
Guaranteed: $5M 83%
2026 cap hit: $5.3M 1.7% of the cap
Signed: 2026
Runs through: 2026

2026 · now

Year 1 of 1 ·

Career by season

Career rates are weighted by volume, not averaged across seasons

	Overall			Tackling				Pass rush			Coverage
Season	GamesGames played.	Defensive snapsSnaps played on defense (Pro Football Reference snap counts).	Snap shareShare of the team's defensive snaps played, in the games the player appeared in.	TacklesSolo plus assisted tackles.	StopsTackles (solo or shared) that end a play the offense failed on, i.e. one with negative EPA. From play-by-play.	Tackles for lossTackles behind the line of scrimmage.	Missed tackle rateMissed tackles as a share of tackle attempts (Pro Football Reference).	SacksSacks (half sacks count 0.5).	QB hitsHits on the quarterback.	PressuresHurries, QB hits and sacks combined (Pro Football Reference).	Targets allowedPasses thrown at the defender in coverage (Pro Football Reference).	Passer rating allowedNFL passer rating on throws into the defender's coverage, computed from completions, yards, touchdowns and interceptions allowed.	InterceptionsInterceptions made.	Passes defendedPasses broken up or intercepted.	Forced fumblesFumbles forced.	Defensive touchdownsTouchdowns scored on defense.
2026	6	105	23.8	7	8	6	0.0	4.5	5	8	1	39.6	0	1	0	0
2025	5	131	38.3	10	7	2	10.0	1.5	3	5	1	87.5	0	0	0	0
2024	17	618	59.0	31	26	9	12.1	9.0	17	25	3	101.4	0	1	0	0
2023	16	584	58.4	23	26	7	22.6	5.5	20	29	3	78.5	0	3	1	0
2022	16	771	69.5	38	35	15	10.2	10.0	24	37	5	92.5	0	5	1	0
2021	1	18	29.0	1	1	0	50.0	0.0	0	0	0	–	0	0	0	0
2020	16	858	83.5	45	44	11	11.9	12.5	23	39	0	–	0	2	4	0
2019	16	872	83.8	55	46	17	14.1	13.5	37	50	3	78.5	0	0	1	0
2018	16	690	66.7	43	31	10	4.3	8.5	25	35	8	79.7	0	2	1	0
2017	14	532	56.9	24	18	3	–	3.5	16	–	–	–	0	1	1	0
2016	13	494	60.7	19	12	4	–	1.0	4	–	–	–	0	1	1	0
2015	15	406	41.2	30	21	7	–	5.5	7	–	–	–	0	1	0	0
Career	151	6,079	61.8	326	275	91	11.9	75.0	181	228	24	85.4	0	17	10	0