The Detroit Lions under head coach Dan Campbell, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn already had just about everything required for a Super Bowl run. The Lions, who made it to the NFC Championship last season, are better on both offense and defense this year, and the only thing that could have bounced them out of the tournament was the broken left tibia and fibula suffered by premier pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson in Week 6 against the Dallas Cowboys.
That’s why Tuesday’s trade with the Cleveland Browns for the services of 10-year veteran quarterback disruptor Za’Darius Smith is such a big deal. The deal is Smith and a 2026 seventh-round pick to Detroit for a 2025 fifth-round pick, and a 2026 sixth-round pick.
The Lions have blitzed quite a bit more often since Hutchinson’s injury, and while their linebackers and secondary are good enough for them to get away with it, having to blitz instead of wanting to blitz in the playoffs is a less than optimal situation.
Not only does Smith provide excellent pass rush from the edges; but he’s also outstanding from interior gaps, and that’s been the case for years. This season, he already has five sacks and 27 total pressures, and he can get to the quarterback from any gap and with any move – from pure-strength bull-rushes to dip-and-rip moves around the edge.
Za'Darius Smith + @DetroitLions: Dan Campbell biting kneecaps in the Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/LOPFpdV3m1
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 30, 2024
Smith doesn’t just give the Lions that one alpha pass-rusher they didn’t have since Hutchinson was injured; he’ll also make everybody on that Lions defensive line better with his presence. Anytime you have one guy that opposing offensive lines have to worry about, that makes life easier for all your other pass-rushers.
Even as the Lions have ascended to their current record of 7-1, this has been on the minds of the coaching staff. Rightfully, Detroit isn’t thinking about having a nice, competitive season; they want to blow opponents out on the way to the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance, and its first NFL championship since 1957.
“Players are what makes your team and you put those players in position to be successful as much as you can,” Glenn said on October 24. “Hutch was a guy that can generate pressure in games or by himself, but obviously, Hutch is not here. Now you look at each player that we have, and you try to do the same thing with each of those players. So, my job is to make sure I put a gameplan together looking at the players and making sure it’s player-centric to where every time that they go out there and play, we’re putting them in the best position. That can either be putting guys in situations where they’re running games, putting guys out on the edge to where they can try to win one-on-one, and just in totaling – just how do we create this defense to where these guys can go play and go play fast. And that’s what I try to do every week.
“And listen, I know that Hutch brought a huge part of rushing the passer, but man, again, we have other guys that can go out there and do the same thing. So, listen, are they Hutch? No, they’re not, and it’s hard to be Hutch. But they have their own talents and traits that we can try to utilize to help us win.”
A nice answer, but when you have a guy who can just go up to the line of scrimmage and beat whoever’s lined up against him, it sure makes your life easier – and generally more victorious. That’s why the Lions made this deal, and it should bring major dividends right away. Detroit’s next opponent is the Houston Texans, who haven’t been able to pass-protect for C.J. Stroud at all this season.
