Za'Darius Smith vows to bring the sacks this year for Browns defense along with the energy

BEREA — There's a kind of person who would not like to be around Za'Darius Smith in the morning. Typically, those are the kind of people who aren't what you would call "morning people."

Smith , on the other hand, is the kind of person who one could almost imagine springing out of bed as if he'd been hooked up to an intravenous drip of caffeine.

"A lot of people need coffee in the morning to get going," the Browns defensive end said before Sunday's training camp practice. "I'm one of them guys that just wake up with no alarm clock ready to go. So that's just me, man. That's my energy and that's just who I am."

There's another kind of person who doesn't want to be around Smith. That would be opposing quarterbacks, for whom his presence often means trouble.

Smith didn't quite cause as much trouble last season as he's done in the past for opposing quarterbacks, especially considering the fact he was regularly lined up either opposite or directly next to eventual NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. He had posted double-digit sacks in three of the four seasons before he was acquired by the Browns in May 2023 from the Minnesota Vikings.

It wasn't until game No. 6 that Smith recorded his first sack of the season last season, and only once — in Week 16 at the Houston Texans — did he record more than one sack. He finished with only 5.5 sacks, his lowest total since 2017, this third season in the league with the Baltimore Ravens.

Smith came close plenty of times — his 54 combined quarterback hits (14) and hurries (40) were the third-most in his career — but more often than not could close out the deal. It's something he acknowledges he wants to change in his second season in Cleveland.

"This was something that I was talking to Myles about — last year I missed a lot of sacks," Smith said. "I don't know if you guys watched it, but I had a lot of opportunity to make sacks and I didn't take that extra step, but this year for sure I'm working on that to get better. I, for sure, want double-digit sacks, but it's a team sport, man, so I just want the whole (defensive) line and the whole defense and the whole team to be great.

"So it's not all about me, but hopefully we can get double-digit sacks this year."

Nothing Smith did during Sunday's training camp practice — where the registered two "sacks" — counts toward any kind of season total. However, it was clear that whatever energy he had when he woke up carried over onto the field.

There was at least one other time when, had it been a live game, he had a clean look where he could've hit Deshaun Watson square on the No. 4 on the back of his jersey. At least once, Browns consultant Mike Vrabel, who was standing on the sideline working with the offense, had to tell Smith to "stay off the quarterback."

Garrett only participated in individual drills, while veteran defensive tackles Dalvin Tomlinson and Shelby Harris were both out because of injuries. The lack of several of the Browns' more-experienced defensive linemen on the field has been the status quo so far this season.

"We got a lot of new guys, man, and that was something coach was talking about how it looked like it's 14 guys on the field," Smith said. "So just to have that energy and that swag about ourselves and just to be that defense as a whole, the number one defense. We just got to keep it up and just keep working each and every day to get better. Keep chopping the wood for sure."

To keep "chopping wood," the Browns need to continue to get the performances they've gotten from several of their defenders to this point. The offense has moved the ball at times, but it has been a struggle to say the least.

If it's not the defensive front collapsing the pocket, it's the secondary making life tough on the wide receivers. In other words, playing just the kind of defense Jim Schwartz loves to coordinate and that high-energy guys like Smith love to play.

"Very excited because Jim Schwartz is one of the guys that wants to cut us loose, man, and just go wreck havoc in the backfield," Smith said. "Rush and coverage work together. So everybody do their job as one and we could be very dominant this year, man, for sure."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Za'Darius Smith vows to bring the sacks this year for Browns defense along with the energy