If it was up to him, free-agent edge rusher Za'Darius Smith would suit up for the Detroit Lions next season.
Smith spoke Monday with USA TODAY Sports at the 2025 BET Awards in Los Angeles, where he expressed a desire to return to the Lions, where he played eight regular-season games in 2024 following a midseason trade.
"Hopefully I can get back to Detroit because the coaching staff and everybody in the front office are great," Smith, 32, said. "When I’m there I feel like a leader and like I can influence the young guys and do great things."
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The Lions cut Smith over the offseason instead of retaining him and his $11 million salary for 2025, with Lions general manager Brad Holmes saying the team couldn't afford to keep him. However, he didn't shut down the possibility of a reunion.
"We've been keeping in touch with his agent and he understands that process," Holmes said during offseason meetings in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Lions traded for Smith at the 2024 trade deadline, sending a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 pick swap to the Cleveland Browns. He registered 12 tackles and four sacks in eight regular-season games for the Lions in 2024, helping to support an injury-saddled defense in the second half of the season.
His four sacks were the second-most on the team (behind Aidan Hutchinson's 7½) in 2024 despite him playing in less than half of the team's games.
Smith has played for five teams over his 10-year career, most notably with the Green Bay Packers from 2019-21, where he accumulated 26 sacks over three seasons and was twice named to the Pro Bowl. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, and also went to the Pro Bowl playing for the Minnesota Vikings in 2022.
Smith says he and Hutchinson can help each other in strengthening the team's pass rush:
"I can help him with a lot of things," Smith told USA TODAY Sports. "He’s already great but as a player there are some tools that I know that I can help him with. And there are some things as a young guy that he can help me with.”
The Lions have some room to work with money-wise in 2025, with the third-most cap space heading into next season. However, it's not a guarantee they will spend much this year, since holding firm with their current salary obligations may help ease a potentially challenging cap situation in 2026.
