New Falcons DE Za'Darius Smith reveals he retired last season to spend time with his mother before her death

Za'Darius Smith's revelation that he actually retired last season to care for his ailing mother is a roster and character note rather than a fantasy-relevant development for your draft board. Smith is a pass rusher, and edge defenders carry no standard fantasy scoring value in redraft leagues unless you're in a very specific IDP (individual defensive player) format. Even in IDP formats, this news doesn't change anything for the upcoming season since it describes a retirement that already happened last year — it's background context on why he was away from the league, not a signal about his 2025 availability or role.

For standard fantasy purposes, there's no action to take here. Smith isn't on your radar for offense-based scoring, and this story doesn't touch any skill-position player, target share, backfield competition, or depth chart battle that would move him or a teammate up your board. If you play in an IDP league and Smith is somehow still on a roster or draft-eligible list, treat this as confirmation to remove him from consideration rather than as a live storyline — the reporting is about a retirement from last season, not a return.

Bottom line: no start/sit, no add/drop, no trade value implication for your draft prep. File this under human-interest/roster trivia and move on to players who actually affect your lineup construction this preseason.

This is a backstory piece about Za'Darius Smith's personal life last season and has no bearing on current fantasy value — he's now on the Falcons and presumably active/rostered. As a DE, he has zero standard fantasy relevance anyway outside of IDP leagues, where his snap counts and pass-rush role in Atlanta's defense would matter far more than this retrospective explanation for his prior retirement. No lineup changes stem from this news; it's purely a human-interest story with no impact on his current roster status, snap share, or IDP scoring outlook.