When the Detroit Lions released Za’Darius Smith right before the start of free agency, the move left them with a major need to fill on the edge.

More than two months later, the Lions still haven’t fill that need.

Smith also hasn’t found a new team during that time.

It’s a situation that seems to have a pretty simple resolution.

The Lions should sign Smith before next week’s NFL Draft.

Regardless of whatever faith they may have in him, Marcus Davenport just isn’t the answer on the edge for a team that is hoping to contend for a Super Bowl.

He has played just six games over the last two seasons and only had half of a sack in 15 games the year before that.

He’s not the guy.

Smith was solid for the Lions in the eight games after they traded for him. He had four sacks in those eight games. He was the only player other than Aidan Hutchinson to register four sacks for the Lions last season.

For the year, Smith finished 10th among edge rushers with 63 pressures according to Pro Football Focus.

He clearly has enough in the tank to be the pass rush partner Hutchinson needs in the pass rush for the 2025 season.

General manager Brad Holmes gave fans hope that the team could bring Smith back during the owners meeting, when he said that the team was still in contact with Smith’s agent.

This week he said there has been no contact since then.

However, he also said something else that makes Smith returning an even more sensible move.

He said that the Lions aren’t going to reach on a player just to fill a position.

That becomes a whole lot easier if the Lions bring Smith back before the draft.

Having a proven edge rusher on the roster who can take that second starting spot over would open things up for the Lions during the draft.

It would make it so they could wait on an edge if the guy they want isn’t available at pick 28 and they could instead grab a guard or defensive tackle to get ahead of next offseason’s needs.

If they drafted an edge anyway, it would give that player time to develop before having to produce for a contender. This draft class doesn’t have many edge rushers with a high probability of contributing early.

Teams obviously aren’t lining up to get a deal done with Smith if he’s spent two months in free agency, so his asking price shouldn’t be anything unreasonable.

He has also made it clear during the offseason that he wants to be back in Detroit for the 2025 season.

Signing Smith would give the Lions a clear upgrade to their defense and give them options for how they want to spend their draft picks next week.

They should be working to get a deal done before they start selecting players.