The sudden, stunning retirement announced Monday by edge defender Za'Darius Smith left the Eagles' defense with some major question marks.
The veteran Smith, who called it quits after just five games with the Eagles, was – and still is – the only Eagles edge defender who has more than one sack in 2025, a somewhat astonishing stat given the team's resources at that position and its history of producing edge rushers who can get to the quarterback.
Despite the loss of Josh Sweat in free agency, the Eagles were banking on a pair of free agents, Josh Uche and Azeez Ojulari, to combine with two early draft picks, 2023 first-rounder Nolan Smith and 2024 third-rounder Jalyx Hunt, to give defensive coordinator Vic Fangio enough ammo to disrupt opposing quarterbacks.
When it was clear in training camp that the Eagles needed more, the addition of three-time Pro Bowler Za'Darius Smith was expected to be the missing piece, and came in handier when Nolan Smith was placed on Injured Reserve after Week 3 with a strain of the same triceps he tore during the Super Bowl and had repaired in the offseason.
With Za'Darius Smith now gone, the Eagles need a healthy return of Nolan Smith to supplement the edge group, unless personnel chief Howie Roseman swings a deal before the Nov. 4 league trade deadline.
But there are two obstacles that could present further issues for the Eagles' pass rush – Nolan Smith isn't likely to return until Week 10 earliest on Nov. 10 against Green Bay, which means at least two more games without him, and there's a legit concern that Smith's second triceps injury in a seventh-month span could have a longer-term impact.
To better understand Smith's recovery process from his second triceps injury since the Super Bowl, we spoke with Dr. Dinesh Dhanaraj, the Attending Orthopedic Surgeon at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne.
Important to note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and guest authors and do not reflect any official policy or position of any NFL team or a team's athletic physicians.
If Smith returns against the Packers, it'll mark seven weeks since the time of his triceps strain. Dr. Dhanaraj said seven weeks is a "reasonable" timetable for Smith, or any NFL athlete, to return from either a Grade 1 or Grade 2 strain and that the Eagles can expect "to get him back and playing well."
However, Dr. Dhanaraj said Smith would likely be wearing a brace upon return and he did express concern about the overall wear-and-tear already on Smith's triceps and the risk of another aggravation or tear.
"Yes, inevitably so," he said. "Whenever you injure something, and I tell patients if you tore a regular, normal triceps you definitely can – and very much might – re-tear a repaired one. We sew it back back to the best of our ability but it's never like God made it.
"We hope the biology takes place where it heals but it's not like we're putting in Kevlar or some armor in there. It's sewing back with anchors and there's definitely a chance of re-tearing because of just the inevitability of the sport."
Dr. Dhanaraj emphasized that the triceps isn't different than any other muscle that can be torn, and that it's not any more vulnerable to re-injury than any other muscle.
He also said that age – Smith is only 24 – helps as opposed to former Eagles edge defender Brandon Graham, who tore his triceps last year on Nov. 24, Week 11, against the Rams and had repair surgery at 36 years old before returning to play in the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 – just about 11 weeks removed from surgery.
Graham retore the same triceps in the Super Bowl, the same game that Smith also tore his triceps.
"It's a risk [that Smith could re-tear the triceps]," Dr. Dhanaraj said. "But like anything in the NFL at this point, it's all a cost-benefit analysis of: What do you have?
"When I talked about Brandon Graham, I said you could rotate him in, maybe he shouldn't be playing every snap. Inevitably, he still re-tore [it]. But with a strain and things like that, you'd hope there would be less of a chance. But it's definitely an unfortunate possibility."
Which means Roseman could be hunting sooner than later for outside help at the position, scouring the league for any sensible trades that could help the Eagles improve their edge depth.
Smith, at 238 pounds, is another Eagles EDGE on the lighter side, but he plays tough and with physicality, as he showed in the postseason last year taking on pulling blocks from mammoth offensive guards.
Last year, in his second season, Smith started to emerge after the Week 5 bye, with 2.5 sacks as a rotational edge rusher from Weeks 6-8. He started nine of the last 10 games, sitting only in the meaningless season finale with the rest of the starters and key reserves. He then erupted in the playoffs with four sacks and five quarterback hits while playing about 77 percent of the defensive snaps in the team's four postseason games.
Recovery from the triceps tear kept him out of full practices at the spring camps but Smith was cleared to practice in full by the start of training camp, about 22 weeks from surgery.
During camp, though, Smith battled a minor shoulder injury that had Fangio playing him exclusively across right tackle to keep his left shoulder on the outside, away from the where the most contact occurs.
Dr. Dhanaraj said the shoulder injury could've been an ominous sign for his repaired triceps.
"You can have discomfort," he said, noting the triceps attaches at the shoulder. "You can have additional problems."
The plan for the Eagles could be easing Smith back into the rotation when he's ready to safeguard against another triceps injury.
The Eagles should have enough bodies at the position to make due, but if they continue to get erratic production from the edge group, it might be hard for them to scale back on Smith's usage.
Dr. Dhanaraj agreed that working Smith back into the rotation would be the right course of action, relating Smith's recovery process to marathon runners who suffer from stress fractures; they don't just start running marathon distances again immediately upon return to training.
"It's letting your body get used to that stress," he said, "So it can adapt."
SIGN UP HERE to receive PhillyVoice's Sports newsletters.
Follow Geoff on Twitter/X: @geoffpmosher
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports