The Detroit Lions making a move to acquire veteran defensive end Za'Darius Smith in the middle of last season was applauded as the team felt like it was on a trajectory for greatness.
The Lions traded a 5th-round pick in 2025 and 6th-round pick in 2026 to acquire Smith and a 2026 7th-round pick in November following the season-ending injury to Aidan Hutchinson. Smith had big shoes to fill but ultimately came up short as the rest of the defense's injuries were too much to overcome in the postseason.
The Lions cut him on March 9 with a year left on his contract despite the team's continued need for pass rushers. Before his release, Smith was set to receive a $7 million option bonus.
"It was an amicable decision," Lions general manager Brad Holmes said Monday. "We couldn't afford it is the bottom line... That was my communication with him and he understood that."
Holmes talked with local media about the Lions' offseason so far at the NFL's league meetings in Florida on Monday. Since his release, Smith has yet to land with a new team.
"Everybody is asking for one defensive end," Holmes said. "No, we'd love to get three or four. It's something that's not being ignored, we just weren't in a position to keep him at his salary."
Smith was entering the second year of a two-year, $23 million contract he'd originally signed with the Browns. The Lions created about $5.75 million in cap by cutting him when they did.
"He played some good snaps for us and he made plays for us when we acquired him, so we would have loved to be able to keep him. We just weren't able to.”
Smith, 32, recorded four sacks in his eight games with Detroit to go along with three tackles for loss.
Holmes said Monday the Lions are likely done spending any significant money in free agency this offseason. They're expecting to have a healthy Hutchinson along with Josh Paschal as their starters on the edge, but more than likely, they'll be looking at the upcoming draft to find potential playmakers at the position.
“We're still monitoring, but what happens is now you get to a point that we have a lot of young players on our team that we're still excited about,” he said. “It may not be players that have gotten a lion's share of snaps in the regular season of last year, but that we've been watching throughout the year that we're really excited about."
This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions GM: Detroit 'couldn't afford' to keep EDGE Za'Darius Smith
