Last season, as the Detroit Lions dealt with an ever-increasing list of injured players, fans and pundits alike were crying out for the team to spend top dollar and trade for a quality replacement for pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson after his heartbreaking leg injury.
As the team's GM Brad Holmes told Chris Long during a recent interview, replacing the team's superstar defensive end and sack leader was no easy task. Holmes spent an inordinate amount of time calling around the league, trying to find any replacement he could.
While talking heads were waxing philosophical about the idea that Las Vegas Raiders' Maxx Crosby might be available, Holmes faced the reality that teams didn't even want to give up their third- and fourth-string players, due to fear of injuries on their own teams.
After Thanksgiving, and well past the trade cutoff, the Lions lost even more defensive players due to injury. At that point, the team had no choice but to sign players off of practice squads from around the league.
DLs Myles Adams (Seahawks) & Jonah Williams (Rams), along with LB Kwon Alexander (Broncos), all signed onto Detroit's active roster.
Considering all of that, Brad Holmes' mid-season trade for Browns' EDGE Za'Darius Smith was more of a feat than most gave him credit for, just to get any kind of deal done at all. The fact that the team only had to give up a 2025 5th & a 2026 6th prior to the trade deadline was just icing on the cake.
Of course, the flip side is that Smith became a free agent at season's end, and as of right now, the veteran edge rusher is still unsigned. However, at this year's BET Awards, Smith told USA Today reporters, “We both know where I want to be. Hopefully I can get back to Detroit because the coaching staff and everybody in the front office are great. When I’m there I feel like a leader and like I can influence the young guys and do great things. Hopefully I can get back to where I want to be in Detroit.”
Brad Holmes dodged Chris Long's question about Smith when asked about the status of the defensive ends. Instead, he focused his response on the team's current players. Hutchinson "looks explosive," often-injured veteran Marcus Davenport "looks just as good," and Al-Quadin Muhammad "played good football" for Detroit. Sixth-round rookie Ahmed Hassanein "had the most production out of all the edge rushers in that class."
The overall tone of the answer, as well as the followup discussion about the interior of the defensive line (in particular, 1st round draft pick Tyleik Williams' progress), suggested that Holmes and the Lions would be comfortable moving forward with what they have, if they had to.
There's plenty of time left, though, and with Smith and the Lions talking to each other, perhaps news of his return to the team will be coming sooner rather than later. It would certainly be easier than trading for another edge rusher, that's for sure.
