The Detroit Lions released Za’Darius Smith due to his cost, but Brad Holmes appears open to a reunion at a lower price.
One of the players, unfortunately, lost in the fold of the Detroit Lions ’ modest approach to free agency was defensive end Za’Darius Smith. Despite offering 4.0 sacks and 36 pressures in eight games for the Lions after Detroit traded for him at the deadline, Smith was cut earlier this offseason before his option bonus kicked in. Had the Lions kept Smith, he would have cost Detroit $11 million in cap space over the next two seasons, despite only being under contract for one more year.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes straight up admitted that was too pricey for their budgetary plans.
“We just weren’t in a position to keep him at his salary,” Holmes said. “Because look, he played some good snaps for us and he made plays for us when we acquired him, so we would have loved to (have) been able to keep him. We just weren’t able to.”
However, Holmes left a sliver of optimism for those hoping to see Smith back in Honolulu Blue in 2025.
“We’ve been keeping in touch with his agent and he understands that process. We’ll just see how it goes,” Holmes said.
It’s unclear where Smith stands on his plans for next season. Holmes said the split was amicable between both parties and based on Smith’s social media post following the release, that appears to be relatively true. On March 9, Smith posted a series of photos as a Lion with the caption, “Thank you Detroit.”
Smith turns 33 in September, but as a still-productive pass rusher in this league, there will still be a market for him. At this point, it’s common for veterans to see how the NFL Draft plays out to see where there are still opportunities for playing time.
In the meantime, Holmes says he actually feels pretty confident about the defensive line room.
“To be able to get Levi (Onwuzurike) back, he was rolling with his pressures and hopefully he can get home even more so. That’s going to help out a lot more,” Holmes said. “Hopefully, with bringing (Marcus) Davenport back, hopefully his injury luck is on the right side of things. That frees up Josh Paschal to be able to do more from a pass rush standpoint, really more interior-wise than outside. We just had to use Paschal as an edge rusher, because of circumstances with injuries and all that.
“So, we feel good where we’re at. To be able to get (Roy) Lopez to fill–he’s more of a first and second down guy, run defender–but to be able to have him back and still got (DJ) Reader. So we feel pretty good. Actually, we’re getting kinda heavy on the defensive line. Not saying that any position will be ignored, but so far I feel like we’ve had success, and we’re going to continue to fill depth, as I think you saw last year how important that part is.”