Detroit Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith is hoping for an opportunity to return next season.
After the Lions fell short of their 2024 season goals, the former Cleveland Browns defender took to social media to express his gratitude.
Smith wrote, “Motor City, 2024 didn’t go as planned at all; we fell short of the outcome we had planned for! 2025 gives us another opportunity to adjust and go for that championship! I enjoyed every moment with my boys, and even though some faces have changed for the new season, I hope to be a part of this great organization for the future!”
Smith was most challenging player acquisition
General manager Brad Holmes expressed this week, when asked if he grew in his role due to having to deal with so much attrition, expressed the process of trading for Smith was a growth experience.
“This was the first year, especially the attrition at one spot, obviously linebacker we got really hit, we got hit in training camp at linebacker, then it trickled into the season. But pass rusher, and this was the first time we’ve had to trade for a pass rusher this year, and I will say that was the most difficult player acquisition journey that I’ve ever dealt with,” Holmes said. “Look, you can talk about – you can look at all these names of all these starting defensive ends in the NFL, but when you start doing the work and you start making the calls, that thing shrinks down.”
Detroit’s popular general manager expressed the process to acquire Smith was challenging, especially since other team’s also covet pass rushers and must also worry about depth on their own rosters.
Additional Reading: Brad Holmes Addresses Severe Attrition on Lions Roster
“From an availability standpoint, that thing shrinks down like this (to very few available). And a lot of the guys, look, we have an early – kind of have an early trade deadline, so you start calling these other teams and these other GMs and they might have four rushers,” said Holmes. “And so, forget the starters, those guys aren’t even available.”
Holmes explained further, “We’re talking about thirds and fourths, and I can’t really disagree with them, where they say, ‘Look, we’ve got two-plus months of football left and I trade you one and then we get another one hurt and then we’ve only got two.’ And I was like, ‘I didn’t really expect you to be rational and think about it that way.’ But it’s true, so there wasn’t, so when we got Za’Darius, he was one of a small handful of guys that were actually available to actually get that we felt was going to compete and contribute at a starter level.”
