Lions GM Brad Holmes said in a radio interview on Wednesday morning that he’s been keeping in touch with DE Za’Darius Smith and the veteran remains a candidate to return to Detroit.
“There’s obviously still interest there,” Holmes said via Rainer Sabin of the Detroit Free Press.
“We said we were going to keep in contact with his agent,” Holmes added. “But everything’s not just one-sided, you know. Za’Darius has expectations. The team has expectations. So, sometimes it takes a while for those things to get on the same page, especially (with) a guy who has been in the league as long as he has.”
Smith has openly said he wants to return to the Lions , so it’s likely the two sides are just haggling over price at this point, judging by Holmes’ comments.
The Lions released Smith after trading for him during the season last year to address an injury-riddled pass rush. The veteran played well but was due $10 million and Detroit had other expenses to be mindful of.
Smith, 32, is a former fourth-round pick of the Ravens back in 2015. He played out the final year of his four-year rookie contract before agreeing to a four-year, $66 million contract with the Packers in 2019.
Smith had one year remaining on his contract and was set to make a base salary of $14,500,000 for the 2021 season when the Packers released him.
The Ravens reached an agreement with Smith on a four-year deal worth $35 million, but he opted to back out of the deal and sign a three-year, $42 million contract with the Vikings. From there, the Vikings traded Smith to the Browns, and he agreed to a two-year, $23.5 million contract with Cleveland.
The Browns traded Smith to the Lions along with a 2026 seventh-round pick in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick. Detroit released him before the final year of his deal.
In 2024, Smith appeared in 17 games for the Lions and the Browns and recorded 35 tackles and nine sacks in 16 starts.
We have him included in our Top 100 Available NFL Free Agents list.
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