While it seemed like an inevitability that the Detroit Lions would re-sign Za'Darius Smith after cutting him earlier this offseason, that never happened and instead he is now set to play with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2025.
According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Smith signed a one-year deal with Philly that is worth up to $9 million, which means there are incentives involved to get the veteran edge rusher up to that total.
That is a very reasonable deal for a veteran edge rusher who tallied nine sacks last season. And, it also makes the Lions not re-signing him look worse.
After cutting Smith earlier this offseason, general manager Brad Holmes admitted the team couldn't afford him. That was when Smith was set to make just over $11 million on the final year of his contract.
That means the Lions actually could've gotten Smith for even cheaper than what he was initially set to make. Smith's Eagles contract would have been no issue for the Lions to fit in, as the team sits with $33.9 million in cap space.
This was a massive blunder by the Lions, plain and simple. They could've gotten a big reinforcement for a suspect pass-rush that is set to depend on injury-prone Marcus Davenport across from Aidan Hutchinson and lackluster depth options.
Detroit is just one injury away from having a very bad situation at one of the most important positions on the football field, which is bad news for a team with legit Super Bowl aspirations.
Making matters worse, the Eagles are one of the Lions' top competitors in the NFC and just upgraded their already stout defense in a big way.
Despite their obviously shaky situation, the Lions have seemed content with the group they have all offseason. Recently, head coach Dan Campbell revealed that was the reason why the Lions didn't bring Smith back.
"Well, we’re good right now," Campbell said Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "I mean, we’re pretty good here. We got (Marcus) Davenport, we got good depth, I like what we got on the interior, too, we got a lot of flexibility and we’re sitting pretty good right now. So we’re ready to go, man."
Going into the offseason, we really wanted to see the Lions go for it to improve their Super Bowl chances.
Instead, the team largely ignored one of its biggest needs and didn't even bring in a middle-of-the-road addition like Smith. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers went all-in to trade for Micah Parsons in the kind of move the Lions should've been aiming for.
Make no mistake, the Lions are still going to be a very good team, but it remains to be seen if they'll be good enough to finally get over the hump and win a Super Bowl.
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