Where Are They Now: Tanzel Smart moves into an NFL coaching role after an around-the-league playing path

Tanzel Smart’s career arc has a familiar NFL theme, value earned in multiple uniforms and then repackaged into a coaching role. In a new “Where Are They Now” update from the New York Jets, the former Jets defensive lineman is highlighted as being in his fourth year in the league on the West Coast, working with the Los Angeles Rams and drawing on a recent championship environment from his playing days.

The Jets’ profile places Smart with the Rams in what it describes as his beginning on the West Coast and his fourth NFL year overall. The team notes that, during Smart’s time as a defensive tackle, he was part of a Rams group that won the NFC championship two seasons earlier. That matters because coaching in the NFL often starts with understanding what championship preparation looks like, from practice structure to in-game adjustments. Smart’s role, at least in this retrospective, is framed as grounded in that experience.

The Jets also recount a moving timeline before Smart’s coaching turn solidified. After his Rams stretch, the profile describes time with the Buffalo Bills during their training camp period, an opportunity that tends to reveal how teams evaluate traits and develop players week to week. From there, the narrative shifts to the Midwest, where Smart began a season on the Cleveland Browns practice squad, a path that requires both technique and persistence because practice-squad players must be ready to contribute quickly if an opportunity opens.

Eventually, the update brings Smart back to the East Coast and specifically to the Jets. According to the Jets, he joined New York in Week 6, completing an on-and-off league journey that started on the defensive line and is now being continued from the staff side. For a team, having former players who have lived through multiple team systems and roster models can help with player development and with communicating expectations in a way that active linemen recognize immediately.

Smart’s “Where Are They Now” framing is also a reminder of how coaching careers can grow out of the same traits that keep players in the league. Defensive line jobs, in particular, demand a constant attention to leverage, hand usage, gap discipline and film study. When those skills are translated into coaching, the goal becomes making the next rep smarter, not simply harder. Smart’s path through championship-level football with the Rams, plus camp and practice-squad routines with other organizations, positions him as a coach who has seen both the polish of a contender and the grind of roster depth.

Looking ahead, Smart’s first obligation as a coach will be to translate his experience into day-to-day development for the Rams’ defensive front within the team’s broader system. For Jets fans, the twist is that the player once wearing green is now part of the coaching ecosystem elsewhere in the league. For opposing offenses and defensive coaching staffs, it is a continuity story, one that suggests Smart is building his NFL reputation on the common thread of defensive line preparation.

For readers trying to track the implications across teams, the Jets profile provides a clean through-line: Rams championship experience, additional evaluation time with the Bills, practice-squad work with the Browns, and a Week 6 joining point with the Jets. Those moments do not just mark transactions, they also map out how Smart’s football education broadened before he stepped into coaching responsibilities. The rest of his coaching story will depend on how that experience translates into player growth across the defensive front.

Ultimately, Smart’s move into the NFL coaching ranks is less a departure from his former playing identity and more a continuation of it. The Jets’ update underscores that he remains connected to the league’s highest standards of defensive preparation, while his route through multiple franchises gives him a practical perspective on what it takes to earn a spot and keep improving.