Eagles to Replace Nolan Smith with 3× Pro Bowl Veteran Pass Rusher

The Philadelphia Eagles’ defense has started the year strong, but Sunday’s news that outside linebacker Nolan Smith will miss at least four weeks with a triceps injury has forced the coaching staff to reshuffle its rotation. With Smith sidelined, one of the team’s most experienced edge rushers now faces a dramatically bigger role in Vic Fangio’s scheme.

This defender only arrived in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago and has been scrambling to absorb the playbook ever since. Every day has been a crash course in Fangio’s system - one package after another, new responsibilities layered on week by week. As he explained, “I’m just now getting here and these guys have been here all training camp. So they’ve been sprinkling it in a little bit every day. Now with a guy going down, it’s like I got double up on my homework.”

The injury to Nolan Smith - who had already logged eight pressures in limited snaps this season - means the Eagles lose one of their most dynamic young defenders. That absence will directly push Za’Darius Smith into more playing time, perhaps much more than the 22 snaps per game he’s averaged over the past two weeks.

At 33 years old, Za’Darius Smith knows the challenge ahead. He’s still learning Fangio’s defense after a summer without training camp reps. “Yeah, I mean, I can play more,” he said. “But it’s still me learning the defense. I got all the nickel stuff down, but base calls are something I’m working on now.” With Nolan Smith averaging 47 snaps per game, those reps now need to be covered by veterans like Smith and other rotational edge rushers.

It won’t fall solely on him. Players like Jalyn Hunt, Josh Uche, Azeez Ojulari, Ogbo Okoronkwo, and Patrick Johnson are all expected to see additional snaps. But among them, Za’Darius is the only Pro Bowler, the only one with multiple double-digit sack seasons, and the only edge rusher on the roster who has already broken into positive sack territory this year. His experience makes him the natural candidate to take on the bulk of the responsibility.

Despite his age, Smith insists he still has plenty left in the tank. Reflecting on his early career in Baltimore, where he didn’t play as many snaps, he said: “I’m still young in this, man. Obviously, I’m not going to turn down more snaps, but I also look at guys like Ogbo and Azeez - now they can get an opportunity.”

Through three weeks, the Eagles are undefeated at 3-0, but the defense has been uneven. Philadelphia has only three sacks, ranking 29th in the NFL, and sits 27th in run defense. Improvement is needed, and with Nolan Smith sidelined, much of the burden will fall on Za’Darius Smith and the defensive front to raise their level.

As Smith put it himself: “It’s just the next man up. That’s an injury we didn’t want to happen, but it’s football. Hopefully, we can all rotate and help this boy we’re going to miss. So we’re just going to keep doing what we’re supposed to do as a football team and play as one.”