Browns Digest

Za'Darius Smith Explains Cryptic Message After Trade From Browns

The Cleveland Browns sent the veteran pass rusher to the Detroit Lions ahead of Tuesday's NFL trade deadline

Spencer German

NFL Cleveland Browns defensive end Za'Darius Smith
NFL Cleveland Browns defensive end Za'Darius Smith / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
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After weeks of speculation, veteran defense end Za'Darius Smith was traded from the Cleveland Browns to Detroit Lions earlier this week, ahead of the expiration of the NFL's traded deadline.

On the morning that the trade went down though, Smith took to social media to seemingly express some frustrations over the situation. In a post on X, Smith hit send on a message that ready simply "SMH." The popular acronym stands for "shaking my head," and not so long after posting the message the 32-year-old wound up deleting it.

During his first interaction with Detroit media, Smith explained the meaning behind his short message.

"It was just taking too long, man" Smith told a reporter with a laugh. "It was taking too long. But obviously after they'd got it down I deleted it man. Sorry for the fans that was thinking otherwise. But like I said, happy to be here, man. Happy to be with this football team."

Smith looks genuinely happy throughout the entirety of the conversation, so any speculation that he wasn't happy with the move is likely put to bed. Smith left a 2-7 Browns team that wasn't going anywhere fast to join the 7-1 Lions, who are currently the top team in the NFC.

While rumors about the Lions pursuit of Smith had been ongoing for several weeks, Cleveland ultimately settled for a 2025 fifth-round pick and 2026 sixth-round pick, adding a 2026 seventh-round pick to complete the deal. Prior to his departure from the Browns, Smith was having a bit of a renaissance season with five sacks.

Now he'll get a chance to contribute to a team that has legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.

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Spencer German
SPENCER GERMAN

Spencer German is a contributor to the Northeast Ohio cluster of sites, including Cavs Insider, Cleveland Baseball Insider and most notably Browns Digest. He also works as a fill-in host on Cleveland Sports Radio, 92.3 The Fan, one of the Browns radio affiliate stations in Cleveland. Despite being a Cleveland transplant, Spencer has enjoyed making Northeast Ohio home ever since he attended college locally at John Carroll University, where he graduated in 2013.

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