Atlanta Opens the Season With One Defensive End and No Good Options Left

The Smith retirement story broke two days ago, and I've already written the obit on the signing. What's worth noting now, as Week 1 approaches, is where that leaves the depth chart in concrete terms: Samson Ebukam is the only defensive end who logged meaningful snaps last season. Cameron Sample and Zach Harrison are listed behind him; neither has played a regular-season snap in this system in any traceable way.

The Falcons signed Smith on August 18 specifically because Jalon Walker's torn ACL and James Pearce Jr.'s eight-game suspension had stripped the pass rush to the bone. Smith lasted eight days on the roster before the news emerged that he had quietly retired last season — stepping away after five games with the Eagles to be with his mother before she died. That's a human story, not a football story. The football consequence is simply that Atlanta's emergency fix is gone, and there is no secondary emergency fix behind it.

The roster needs at defensive end were already flagged as moderate before Smith signed. They are the same needs now, with no new name attached to them. Ebukam heads into Week 1 as the whole rotation.