Za'Darius

Smith

This one comes as a bit of a surprise after Smith signed a one-year contract with the Eagles shortly before Week 1, and played in the team’s Week 6 loss to the Giants on Thursday night. The former fourth-round pick who first entered the league with the Ravens in 2015 walks away from the game with 70.5 career sacks on his resumé to go with 87 TFLs and 10 forced fumbles. Smith’s most productive seasons came with the Packers, who he signed a four-year contract with during the 2019 offseason. He earned back-to-back Pro Bowl nods during his first two years in Green Bay, racking up 26 sacks over that span and also received Second-Team All-Pro honors in 2020. Smith’s decision to walk away leaves an already banged up Eagles defense another man short. They will likely look to bring on another veteran pass rusher in the coming days to make up for his absence.

After sitting out all offseason, Smith hooks on with the Eagles on a ring-chaser contract for the season. Smith had nine sacks as well as 50 hurries per PFF charting in 2025. He’ll give Philadelphia a sure-fire outside rusher on passing downs and possibly could have a bigger role than that depending on how thing shake out in the defensive line rotation.

Smith has been linked to the Lions all offseason, with both sides noting that they had mutual interest and Brad Holmes hinting that Smith had no interest in going through training camp at this stage of his career. With Josh Paschal out an extended period of time, the Lions interest likely has only grown in a reunion at this point.

“Everything’s not just one-sided. Za’Darius has expectations, the team has expectations. Sometimes it takes a while for those things to get on the same page, especially a guy that’s been in the league as long as he has. You know, I’m sure that — I’m not saying that he doesn’t want to be in training camp, but if he misses some time (it’s not the worst thing),” Holmes added. It sounds like Smith will probably sign closer to September, and that the Lions likely remain one of the main contenders for his services.

“We just weren’t in a position to keep him at his salary. 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 been able to keep him. We just weren’t able to. ... We’ll just see how it goes,” Holmes continued. Smith’s market has been pretty quiet so far despite another big season with nine sacks and 63 pressures, but that does seem to be the way the market goes sometimes with players entering their age-33 season. We’ll probably get more clarity on where Smith will wind up after the draft. Smith would be a nice late-wave pickup in free agency for many teams at this point.

The release of Smith saves the Lions just over $5.7 million against the cap for this upcoming season. Smith, who was acquired in a trade with the Browns around last year’s trade deadline, totaled nine sacks and 35 tackles while splitting time with the two teams. He’s totaled nine or more sacks in two of his last three seasons, and his 63 pressures tied for 10th-most amongst EDGE rushers per PFF’s charting. Smith will be 33 at the start of next season. Given the exploding market for pass rushers, he may still be able to secure a two-year deal this offseason.

Refreshed after taking one game off, Decker practiced in full over the last two days and is good to go for Week 11. DE Za’Darius Smith will make his Lions debut this week after being rendered inactive in his first week with the team (Week 10), post-trade.

Smith joined the Lions at the deadline but was given Wednesday and Thursday off from practice as he tended to hurricane damage on his property in Florida. He will ultimately be held out, with the team now having to wait until Week 11 for their recent pass rusher to make his team debut.

Smith was given Wednesday and Thursday off to process his trade from the Browns to the Lions and was granted permission to visit his home in Florida, which suffered damage in a recent Hurricane. When asked if he would play this week, a smiling Smith told reporters, “I really don’t know but that’s a Dan [Campbell] question. Hopefully, I can play.” The Lions will be without starting LB Malcolm Rodriguez (ankle) and neither CB Emmanuel Moseley (pectoral) nor S Ifeatu Melifonwu (ankle) will make their return.

Detroit also gets a 2026 seventh round pick from Cleveland in the transaction. The move comes on the morning of the NFL’s trade deadline after weeks of rumors following the Lions’ loss of standout pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson (leg). Pro Football Focus grades Smith as the NFL’s 28th best pass rushing EDGE. He has five sacks and 20 QB hurries on the season, and will join a Lions defense with the league’s ninth highest pressure rate through Week 9.