There is one spot open on the Detroit Lions’ 53-man roster, and some have speculated it could soon be filled by Za’Darius Smith, the pass rusher who has remained a free agent since the team cut him in March.
“You know, anything is a possibility,” general manager Brad Holmes said cryptically during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 28, in Allen Park.
But Holmes quickly threw water on the idea that the Lions’ remaining vacancy had been set aside for Smith.
No, he said, it hasn’t been earmarked “for a specific player.”
Holmes said the organization hasn’t had any recent talks with Smith about re-signing with the Lions even though they are rather thin at the position he plays. Until they claimed former Dallas Cowboys player Tyrus Wheat off waivers Wednesday, the only backup edge rusher behind starters Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport was Al-Quadin Muhammad.
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Smith, who will turn 33 in early September, played in nine games for Detroit after the Lions acquired him in a deadline trade with the Cleveland Browns last November that also included an exchange of draft picks. He generated 40 pressures and collected four sacks while helping mitigate the loss of Hutchinson and Davenport after both suffered season-ending injuries in the early fall.
But the Lions couldn’t afford to keep Smith, according to Holmes. While he was set to make just $1.5 million in base salary this year, he would have been owed $8.99 million in bonus money had he remained on the roster. So, the Lions cut him March 10 right before the dawn of free agency.
Since then, the organization has engaged in periodic dialogue with Smith and his agent. In an early August radio interview on WXYT-FM (97.1), Holmes said “there’s obviously still interest” in re-signing Smith, who told USA TODAY Sports in June he wanted “to get back to Detroit.”
But with the start of the season fast approaching, it appears a reunion still isn’t imminent.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why it seems unlikely Detroit Lions final roster goes to Za’Darius Smith