The Detroit Lions have a ton going against them as the 2025 season draws closer. Even though the last two years have been incredible from a regular season standpoint, both years came to an end in brutal fashion in the playoffs.
First, they blew a half-time lead of more than two scores before losing to rookie Jayden Daniels, who nearly hung 50 points on them. To make matters worse, the Lions are walking into the season without both their coordinators from last season, with Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn taking up head coaching jobs with the Chicago Bears and the New York Jets, respectively.
The silver lining for Detroit is that its injury luck shouldn’t be as bad as it was last year. But the defense could still use some additional talent, with one analyst wanting them to seek out a reunion.
Could the Detroit Lions Turn To Reliability Alongside Aidan Hutchinson?
At the time, the Lions sustaining their defensive level even without Aidan Hutchinson was seen as an admirable job by Aaron Glenn. After losing their star edge rusher, Detroit continued to find ways to be salvageable on defense.
As a result, by year’s end, they were a top-five unit on PFSN’s Defense+ metric. But the injuries continued to pile on, with Hutchinson going down just being the tip of the iceberg. One name they relied heavily on in his absence was three-time Pro Bowler Za’Darius Smith.
A former fourth-round pick, Smith has already exceeded his draft positioning. But in recent years, he’s turned into a mercenary of sorts, suiting up for four different organizations in the last four years, while earning two of his three Pro Bowl selections this decade.
The Lions, too, sought his help, trading for him ahead of the trade deadline, after he’d already had a solid run with the Cleveland Browns after joining them in 2023. Over the second half of the season, he appeared in eight games for Detroit, recording four sacks and 15 QB pressures.
The numbers were incredible in a short sample size. As a result, Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report believes the best-case scenario for Smith, after essentially the entire offseason has passed, is to find a reunion with the Lions.
“While Detroit allowed Smith to walk early this offseason, they should strongly consider bringing him back now. The Lions did little to bolster their pass rush aside from re-signing Marcus Davenport, and Smith is probably the best complement to Aidan Hutchinson that they’re going to find this late in the offseason, barring a trade for a player like Trey Hendrickson,” he wrote.
Za’Darius Smith among EDGE defenders since 2022:
🔹 18.9% pass rush win rate (6th)
🔹 16.1% pressure rate (6th)
🔹 90.2 pass rush grade (8th)Your newest Detroit Lion 💪 https://t.co/0Xc7BsA1bs pic.twitter.com/lr2GESthrh
— PFF DET Lions (@PFF_Lions) November 5, 2024
If the Lions are open to a reunion, then the move might be a no-brainer for both sides. On the other side of 30, Smith isn’t going to get many opportunities like the one that is tailor-made for him in Detroit.
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For the franchise, the move might be a smart way to add a valuable talent to a unit that is going to suffer from the loss of one of the better coordinators across the league.
