{"id":16937,"date":"2025-03-10T03:09:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T03:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16937"},"modified":"2025-03-10T03:09:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T03:09:39","slug":"breaking-detroit-lio%c9%b4s-fans-have-split-opinions-on-teams-decisio%c9%b4-to-release-pass-rusher-zadarius-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16937","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Detroit Lio\u0274s Fans Have Split Opinions on Team\u2019s Decisio\u0274 to Release Pass Rusher Za\u2019Darius Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Detroit Lions traded for former Cleveland Browns defensive end Za&#8217;Darius Smith during the 2024 season in hopes of filling the void left by injuries to many of its top pass rushers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/t_share\/MjEzMzc0OTY5ODE4NjU0MTU5\/usatsi_25123187.jpg\" alt=\"Detroit Lions Fans Have Split Opinions on Team's Decision to Release Pass  Rusher Za'Darius Smith - Athlon Sports\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Smith compiled 12 tackles and four sacks in eight games, showing promise as a potential holdover to pair with returning superstar Aidan Hutchinson and the Lions&#8217; other defensive stars next season.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, the Lions released Smith, causing a wide range of reactions from Detroit fans tied to the dream of their franchise making, and winning, its first ever Super Bowl under coach Dan Campbell.<\/p>\n<p>Fans appeared split in the comments section of a post by one local sports network as they debated whether Detroit&#8217;s general manager Brad Holmes made the right move.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4843,h_2724\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/196\/01jjhrsq17s71x3329z8.jpg\" alt=\"Veteran Pass Rusher Makes Plea to Stay With Lions Next Season\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Trust Brad,&#8221;\u00a0one fan wrote\u00a0on the Woodward Sports Network&#8217;s page. &#8220;It&#8217;s not like he doesn&#8217;t know how to build a contender.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Another fan called it the wrong move.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am in total shock. This guy played every game for you last year when the entire defense was injured and you let him go?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You bring back a guy that played two games for you (Marcus Davenport)!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was the wrong move! A chance to play with a healthy Hutchinson would&#8217;ve been fantastic!&#8221;\u00a0they added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He ain&#8217;t do nothing since we traded for him. Basically disappeared in the playoffs. Time to move on,&#8221; another fan added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was a help and a great teammate, but not what they anticipated stat wise,&#8221; another reader said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Detroit Lions traded for former Cleveland Browns defensive end Za&#8217;Darius Smith during the 2024 season in hopes of filling the void left by injuries to many&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Detroit Lio\u0274s Fans Have Split Opinions on Team\u2019s Decisio\u0274 to Release Pass Rusher Za\u2019Darius Smith - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=16937\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Detroit Lio\u0274s Fans Have Split Opinions on Team\u2019s Decisio\u0274 to Release Pass Rusher Za\u2019Darius Smith - 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