Detroit Lions trade for Za’Darius Smith

The Detroit Lions have acquired defensive end Za’Darius Smith in a trade with the Cleveland Browns.

News that the trade was imminent first surfaced Sunday before the Lions’ game with the Green Bay Packers. It was officially finalized on Tuesday and the Lions sent Cleveland a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick in exchange for the defenseman. Along with Smith, the Lions received a 2026 seventh-round pick.

Smith had a successful start to the season with five sacks in the team’s first nine games. Cleveland fell to 2-7 on the season with Sunday’s 27-10 loss to the Chargers.

The veteran has 65 career sacks in his 10 NFL seasons. He is under contract through the end of the 2025 season, meaning the Lions will have him under team control for next season as well as the duration of the 2024 season.

According to Spotrac, Smith is due a base salary of $1.5 million and a contract bonus of $4.025 million next season. He will also have a cap hit of $9.433 million through 2025. By trading for Smith, the Lions will owe him $605,000 guaranteed this season and $11 million non-guaranteed next year.

The Lions had a defensive need caused by season-ending injuries to Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport earlier in the year. Since Hutchinson left in Week 6, the Lions have turned to Josh Paschal, James Houston, Isaiah Thomas and practice relievers Isaac Ukwu and Al-Quadin Muhammad to fill the void.

Paschal has missed the last two games due to illness, further weakening Detroit’s defensive strength.

The 32-year-old Smith entered the league as a fourth-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2015 NFL Draft. He has played for four teams in his career, including the Ravens (2015-18), Green Bay Packers (2019-21), Minnesota Vikings (2022) and Browns (2023-24).