Za'Darius Smith suffers left knee contusion, adding to Browns' list of defensive injuries

BEREA — The story of the Browns defense through the start of training camp has been as much about who hasn't been on the field as it has been who's on the field.

Injuries have caused havoc, both big and small, to the defense that was No. 1 in the NFL a season ago. The emphasis most definitely went on big on Monday when defensive end Za'Darius Smith was carted to the locker room after suffering what is being called by the team a left knee contusion during an 11 on 11 red-zone drill.

The Browns said Smith, who re-signed with the team in March, will be reevaluated Tuesday morning. The team is next scheduled to practice at 4:25 p.m. Tuesday.

Smith's injury happened while he was pulling up to avoid contact with defensive end Myles Garrett, who was pursuing quarterback Deshaun Watson on the play. After he went down to the ground behind the play, he appeared to grab his left knee as a trainer approached.

Last season, his first with the Browns, Smith recorded 5.5 sacks, 14 quarterback hits and 40 quarterback hurries. The three-time Pro Bowler had double-digit sacks in three of the four seasons before Cleveland acquired him in May 2023 from the Minnesota Vikings.

Smith wasn't the only defensive lineman to go off with a trainer during Monday's practice. Defensive tackle Sam Kamara, just moments before Smith got on the cart, walked to the team's facility with a trainer.

Kamara had seen his practice reps increase in numbers because of the rash of injuries to the defensive tackle position. Hours earlier, before practice, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had talked glowingly of the job Kamara had done in shifting inside after primarily working at defensive end before this year.

"Sam Kamara has had a really good camp," Schwartz said. "He's playing pretty much full-time inside after being a swing guy and mainly concentrating on end last year. But he's been very impressive so far and really taking advantage of a lot of those plays."

This occurred on the same day that Garrett, the league's reigning Defensive Player of the Year, participated in the first full-team drills of training camp. He had spent all seven practices at The Greenbrier in West Virginia working off to the side, and only returned to individual drills on Sunday.

The Browns' first two defensive tackles on the field Monday were Quinton Jefferson and Maurice Hurst II. Hurst had been running with the first unit all camp after Dalvin Tomlinson was placed on the active/physically unable to perform list due to arthroscopic knee surgery he underwent on July 26.

Jefferson, who was signed in the offseason after an six-sack season last year with the New York Jets, has been running with the first unit since Shelby Harris sustained what has remained an undisclosed injury early last week while the team was still at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. Harris has not been seen on the field since July 29.

That's also opened the door behind Jefferson and Hurst, specifically for rookies Mike Hall Jr. and Jowon Briggs.

"Well, it's not just D-line," Schwartz said. "I mean, we have a lot of guys that are benefiting from a lot of reps and some guys that need to take a little better advantage of some of the opportunities. But we've been practicing most of the last week, obviously without Dalvin, but also without Shelby, so two of our major contributors last year. It just opens up a lot more for guys like Michael Hall, guys like Jowon Briggs, guys like Sam Kamara."

It's also the Browns linebacking corps that has been hit hard. None of the three linebackers who were running with the No. 1 group to open training camp — Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Jordan Hicks and Tony Fields II — were practicing Monday due to injuries.

Owusu-Koramoah and Fields have each been out for what is now four practices with injuries the Browns won't specifically disclose, although both were on the field watching Monday. Hicks left Sunday's practice during individual drills but was not seen during Monday's practice.

Devin Bush and Mohamoud Diabate were working with the No. 1 defense at linebacker. Rookies Nathaniel Watson and Winston Reid are the only other linebackers on the roster.

"Obviously, when you have injuries to our three guys like you do," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said of adding linebacker depth, "those are things that you look at and you figure out, do we need to bring somebody in? Those are things we're working through."

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 suffers left knee contusion, adding to Browns' list of defensive injuries