The Detroit Lions are a team expected to be active before the Nov. 5 trade deadline, and they are reportedly close to landing a new pass rusher. According to Pro Football Talk, the Lions will acquire Za'Darius Smith of the Cleveland Browns in the coming days.
Smith is currently playing in the Browns' Week 9 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. In his first eight games played this season, Smith recorded 22 combined tackles, five sacks and six QB hits.
The Lions have their sights set on competing for a Super Bowl this year, but they lost star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson to a season-ending leg injury. Now, they are reportedly close to acquiring a veteran that can come in and make an immediate impact.
Smith actually addressed the trade speculation a couple weeks ago, telling reporters he couldn't predict what was going to happen. But he did say playing for Detroit would be nice since he would get to play two of his former teams.
"Hate that injury happened to [Hutchinson], a guy that was on his way to get Defensive Player of the Year possibly. That's a big loss for them," Smith said, via BrownsZone.com. "But if I was to go to Detroit, I would like it, because I get to play Green Bay twice a year and the Vikings twice a year. So, yeah, that'll be big."
At the time of his injury, Hutchinson was leading the NFL in sacks, QB hits and pressures. While Smith likely won't be able to recreate the kind of impact Hutchinson had on opposing offenses, he is an experienced sack artist with 65 QB takedowns to his name. Detroit absolutely had to do something to boost its pass rush, as no active Lion recorded more than 2.5 sacks through the first seven games of the season.
