The Detroit Lions have won the NFC North Division in back-to-back seasons, but after losing both their offensive and defensive coordinators to head coaching jobs elsewhere in the NFL this offseason, the team needs to buoy its three-peat chances by fielding a roster with as few weaknesses as possible.
Unfortunately for Detroit, there is currently a glaring hole at the edge rusher position.
Aidan Hutchinson is entering his fourth NFL season and was a monster through five games last year, racking up 7.5 sacks before breaking his leg in the fifth outing of the campaign. He was a Pro Bowler the season prior and was well on his way to that honor again in 2024, if not All-Pro honors as well, so he covers one edge of the defense with a bullet.
The problem for the Lions is that Hutchinson led the every other player on the defense by at least 3.5 sacks in 2024, despite missing the final 12 games due to his injury. And the man who finished second in that category with four sacks, Za'Darius Smith, departed the roster in free agency.
Smith actually produced nine sacks on the season, tallying five with the Cleveland Browns through that team's first nine contests before joining the Lions for their final eight outings of the year.
Smith is 10-year veteran of the NFL who will play his age-33 campaign in 2025. He is a three-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro with 173 quarterback hits, 85 tackles for loss and 69 career sacks to his name.
He played out the string on a two-year deal worth $23 million across stints in Cleveland and Detroit last year and remains a free agent with less than a month before training camps around the league get underway.
Given that the Lions have no proven pass rushers on the roster aside from Hutchinson at this point, Aaron Schatz of ESPN urged Detroit to bring Smith back into the fold.
"Yes, Aidan Hutchinson will be back from his tibia/fibula injury, but there still are questions about the edge rusher depth in Detroit," Schatz wrote on Thursday, June 26. "It was a surprise when the Lions didn't draft an edge rusher until Boise State's Ahmed Hassanein in the sixth round. So why not bring back a veteran who wants to be there?"
