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Deep down they still dont have any confidence in Hooker....and myabe that Philly loss to Washington when Hurts went down made DC nervous about if that happened with Goff.
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It's about having an emergency quarterback.Comment
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Yeah, don’t think this is an indictment of Hooker, it’s looking at what happened to SF a couple of years ago and not wanting to be caught in the same situation (god forbid).Comment
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Echoing the above
Bridgewater is probably an upgrade for stepping in cold and winning a playoff game. Also, with our injury luck, it can't hurt to have 3 competent QBs.Comment
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Pride of Detroit Direct
By Ty Schalter, exclusively for Pride of Detroit
“I don’t even know the stats,” Dan Campbell said before chucking his only Week 16 game ball at wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. “Critical. Great job, St. Brown.”
Fans who’ve heard local and national praise showered on Detroit’s dominant offensive line, dual-spikey-mammal running attack, and hyper-efficient quarterback all year long were probably just as surprised as St. Brown looked to hear his six-catch, 70-yard performance called “critical.”
But St. Brown caught the ball – because of course he did – and then tried to hand it to Jameson Williams, whose 82-yard touchdown catch put the game all but out of reach early in the second quarter.
“No,” said Campbell, “It’s you.”
I (and Campbell) have said Detroit’s offensive line is what makes their No. 1 scoring offense go. They clear the way for a rushing attack that’s top-five in both EPA and success rate, per NFL Pro, and that supercharges the play-action based passing offense. Williams, and newcomer Tim Patrick, are being celebrated for becoming key parts of that passing machine.
But even though St. Brown is coming off back-to-back Pro Bowls, and in 2023 broke a decade-long Lions first-team All-Pro drought, his contributions this season aren’t getting the same attention.
This is partly because his raw production, as good as it is, still isn’t quite as high as last season’s. On a per-game basis, he’s averaging fewer yards (75.1 vs. 94.6), slightly fewer receptions per game (6.7 vs. 7.4), and two fewer targets (8.3 vs. 10.3).
Why? Well, the Lions aren’t throwing it as often. Detroit’s averaged 32.3 pass attempts per game so far this year, and St. Brown’s run an average of 31.0 routes–so basically, every time the Lions throw, he’s gone out to catch. But last year, Detroit threw 35.6 times per game; St. Brown averaged 35.3 routes. His share of targets is also down slightly: Quarterback Jared Goff threw 29.1 percent of his passes to St. Brown in 2023, compared to 26.7 percent so far this season.
And yet, the Sun God is currently third in the NFL in receptions (101), fourth in receiving yards (1,126), and third in touchdowns (11). Moreover, all but one* of the receivers ahead of him in any of those stats have run at least 30 more routes than him. (Terry McLaurin has one more touchdown [12] on 59 fewer targets.) And St. Brown’s not only been especially productive with the routes and targets he’s run, that production itself has been more “critical” as in high-leverage. Crucial. Clutch.
St. Brown leads the NFL in receiving EPA (+78.4), and leads all wideouts who have played in more than seven games this season in receiving success rate (73.7 percent, according to Pro Football Reference). Perhaps most importantly, he also leads the league in catch rate at a whopping 81.5 percent.
But he’s not just having the most clutch season of any receiver this year. He’s having one of the most clutch seasons any receiver’s ever had.
St. Brown’s on pace to finish with +89.2 EPA on the year, according to NFL Pro. Their data only goes back to 2018, but that’s higher than all but CeeDee Lamb last year, Cooper Kupp in 2021, and Michael Thomas in 2019.
We have more data for success rate and catch rate, though. Since at least as far back as 1992, according to StatHead, St. Brown’s success rate is ahead of all but four receivers (and two of them are Michael Thomas, in 2018 and 2019). And across the same 32 years, only one receiver with more than 60 catches has hauled in a higher percentage of their targets (Thomas, 2018).
With Williams’ attention-getting explosive plays, Patrick’s tough downfield catches, and St. Brown’s improved catch rate (81.5 percent, versus 72.6 percent in both 2023 and 2022), it’s tempting to think St. Brown’s just getting fed layups this year. But his average depth of target so far is exactly the same as last year’s career high: 7.8 yards, per StatHead. And crucially, his catch rate over expected is far and away the best of his career: +12.2 percent.
That’s not just second-best among all wide receivers this year, it’s more than double his career high of +5.3 percent. That means NFL Pro’s model thinks St. Brown’s not just catching significantly more of the balls thrown his way, he’s catching them in much tougher spots. Deeper passes are typically harder to catch, and his CROE has gone up on deeper targets: +11.7 percent within 10 yards, +12.7 percent on 10-19 yard targets, and +18.1 percent on five 20-plus-yard deep balls.
The only receiver topping St. Brown in CROE so far this year is the Commanders’ Terry McLaurin, whose ADOT is a whopping 13.8 yards. Not to take anything away from McLaurin, who’s the only receiver to top St. Brown in any production stat with fewer routes run (12 touchdowns to St. Brown’s 11), but what St. Brown is doing is different. And special.
In the Lions’ last game, the announcers couldn’t stop talking about how Campbell said St. Brown is their “Binky,” their source of comfort. For Goff, a quarterback whose comfort level is the difference between him being an MVP contender and a replacement-level backup, there’s no role more important than a pass-catcher who’ll grab more than four out of five balls you throw his way no matter the down, distance, or coverage.
Williams deserves all the attention he gets, and the offensive line and tailbacks do, too. The phenomenal statistical season Goff is having is still underrated. But what St. Brown is doing moving the ball just as much and scoring more often, in more critical spots, against tougher coverage, on fewer targets and routes, is incredible.
And of all the key players on the Lions’ No. 1 offense, he might be the one they couldn’t possibly replace.
"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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Pressers and scrums: Bridgewater returns, team still high on Hooker, and Lions looking forward, not back with 49ers
Justin Rogers
Dec 26
Allen Park — Here’s the greatest hits from Thursday’s media access at the team’s facility.
Veteran QB back in the fold
The Lions made a surprising transaction Thursday morning, adding a familiar face to the roster in veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
Bridgewater hasn’t been on an NFL roster since ending last season with the Lions. He returned to Florida where he coached his alma mater, Miami Northwestern High, to the state championship in his first season.
Shortly after winning the title, he publicly announced his intention to return to the NFL.
“I’ve been in contact with Teddy for a while, and it was something that was always potentially a possibility,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We all know what Teddy’s been doing down there in giving back to his community. They won a championship down there, so his debut in coaching worked out pretty dang good. But just to be able to add somebody back here that’s got experience, he’s staying in shape, he’s been throwing, just get him worked back in here a little bit, it just brings a level of professionalism, veteran presence, somebody that’s great for our team. He’s great for the position.”
Quarterback coach Mark Brunell echoed Campbell about the value Bridgewater brings to the roster.
“He's great,” Brunell said. “He helped us tremendously last year. Great teammate, professional, experienced, you name it. A great resource for Jared (Goff).”
Another factor in Detroit’s decision is the value of having an emergency quarterback on the roster for the playoffs. An NFL rule adjustment in 2023 allows teams to dress a third, inactive QB on game days who can be put into the game if the starter and backup are injured.
Bridgewater spent 10 seasons in the NFL on six rosters, starting 65 games. He wasn't called upon to throw a pass for the Lions last season, but for his career, he's completed 66.4% of his throws for 15,120 yards, 75 touchdowns and 47 interceptions.
Bridgewater will wear No. 12, previously held by safety Brandon Joseph, who was released last weekend.
"It's cool,” Goff said. “I'm glad to have him back. 'State champ' Teddy Bridgewater is what we call him now. He's a valuable asset to our team. I love having him in the quarterback room and he's great to have around.”
What the addition means for Hooker
The Lions were quick to point out that the addition of Bridgewater is not a condemnation of the development or status of Hendon Hooker, the second-year QB out of Tennessee who has served as the backup all season after winning the job in training camp.
"Look, he’s improved,” Campbell said. “He really has. We feel like every week he’s gotten a little bit better. And this does not mean that Hooker his out. That’s not what this means. If it comes to that, Hooker’s going to play for us, but Teddy probably will too.
“I understand what it looks like, but it’s just a different world that we’re getting ready to walk into, and we felt like this was the right thing to do, especially with somebody that I have a tremendous amount of trust with and for,” Campbell said. “(Bridgewater) understands our offense well, the guys know him well, the coaches know him well, and he brings a certain level of comfort to us.”
Those comments point to Bridgewater serving as the Goff's primary backup once the team enters the postseason.
Hooker has appeared in three games for the Lions this season, taking over in the late stages of three blowout wins. He’s completed 6-of-9 for 62 yards, with zero touchdowns or interceptions.
“Each week, he gets better,” Brunell said. “His mechanics, his fundamentals, understanding the defenses that he's presented with, his presentation, his worth ethic — I can't say enough about him. He's been great and he truly is getting better. He's going to be a really good quarterback in this league and I'm excited for him.”
Brunell was asked if he’d be comfortable with Hooker seeing snaps in the playoffs.
“Absolutely, yes, I would,” he said.
Gibbs the bell cow
In the team’s first game without David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs shouldered the load, logging the second most carries and touches of his two-year career and his second-highest yards from scrimmage total this season.
“We've seen it before,” position coach Scottie Montgomery said. “We know what we have in both of those guys, but it's really never been about just him, it's been about the room. Now that he has to do what he has to do, this is something we expect from him.
“We thought he created,” Montgomery continued. “He was very creative on the first level. We also liked him in the passing game, once again. And we're finding out he can do those things more and more; the interior run game, the exterior run game. It's just a chance for him to showcase, in David's absence, what he can do.”
Gibbs had 20 touches in the first half against Chicago before the Lions dialed things back in the first half. Scottie Montgomery said the heavy workload was part of the game plan, with the team wanting to get off to a fast start.
The coach expressed no concerns about Gibbs holding up long term, saying the player landed in between 40-50 snaps, which was the stated target coming into the week.
"Yeah, this is what he was built for," Scottie Montgomery said. "This is what he wants to do. We're really proud of him."
Eyes forward
It’s easy to look at Monday’s matchup with San Francisco through a lens of redemption, tied to last year’s heartbreaking loss in the NFC Championship. Regardless, the Lions are trying not to lean into that narrative.
“It's difficult at times, you know that, but it's been the windshield mentality vs. the rearview mirror,” Scottie Montgomery said. “We're really trying to focus on what we have going forward. This is a different and they're a different team. That's where we are right now. We're really focused on this year, 2024, and trying to play as well as we possibly can against the team.”
Campbell said getting beyond vengeance is a sign of the franchise’s maturity.
“I’ve mentioned every year, you kind of learn something about winning and losing, and when you take an L like we did last year, you learn from that,” Campbell said. “There were a number of things we did wrong and a number of things they did right, and I think you understand how the game can go and where it can swing and just about keeping your composure and making the most of any rep that comes because the one that happened in the second quarter could change the game.
“…I think that experience, as difficult as it was, served us well moving forward into this year,” Campbell said. “And it’s like anything else, you just don’t like to lose. So you’ve got an opportunity with a team that got the best of you, and so you just want to go out and find a way to get a win.”
As Montgomery notes, these are different teams, and in 2024, they’re heading in different directions. The Lions currently hold pole position in the NFC with a potential opportunity to clinch the No. 1 seed as early as Monday. The 49ers, meanwhile, have been eliminated from postseason contention. Still, the Lions are wary of an opponent that ranks top-10 in yardage on offense and No. 2 in yards allowed on defense, highlighting their sustained competitiveness.
“They’ve got plenty,” Campbell said after rattling off many of the opponent’s top players, “and with the scheme they run, the coaching, I mean, this is not going to be an easy task whatsoever. Our guys understand that. We’re going to have to play our best ball to go out there and get a win.”
Sweaters and snakes
A year ago, Campbell’s wife Holly had no public social media presence. This year, she’s posting fun stuff about the family’s life on Instagram almost daily. That means questions about those posts sometimes make it to the coach.
On Thursday, he was asked who was behind the Christmas sweater the family wore in a group photo. The red top with a large ornament wasn’t subtle, stating, “I have big beautiful balls.”
hollyhcampbell
A post shared by @hollyhcampbell
https://substack.com/redirect/486b148e-4e42-4fe7-8793-932e359f7799?j=eyJ1IjoiMzVxMTBzIn0.wp_lrySeINMQApe OgPbyP4JdYEaoRg7xrAxPgu5AdSc
“That would be my wife, every year she’s got an idea,” Campbell said. “We always wear Christmas shirts that are a little unique, so that was definitely her.”
Montgomery also offered up a Christmas anecdote to open his media session.
“I went to bed for the first time knowing there was a snake in my house,” Montgomery said. “We have a new member of my family. My kids talked my wife into getting a ball python. His name is MK. He is the Minion King. I don't know what that means.”
Montgomery’s kids talked their parents into the purchase after a visit to The Reptarium in Utica.
“I can't say that I'm overly excited, but I'll get better and I'll adjust,” Montgomery said. “That's what coaches do. …It has a lock on (its enclosure), but, yeah, I might just put a lock on the kid's door, too.”
Finally, Jared Goff revealed what he got his offensive linemen.
“It's hard when you've got guys giving out Toyota trucks,” Goff said referencing the gift given out by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. “You've got to keep up with that. (I) got them a nice Yeti package with Waygu steaks and beef. I hope they like it.”
Clock started
As always, you can get all your daily injury updates at this permanent link. You'll want to bookmark that one.
Of note, wide receiver and return man Kalif Raymond returned to practice, opening his three-week acclimation clock. The early expectation is he won’t be activated off injured reserve ahead of Monday’s game against the 49ers.
Blazing questions
Jameson Williams isn’t among the top-20 fastest ball carriers tracked by the NFL this season, but the speedy Lions receiver still believes he could have recorded the fastest 40-yard dash in scouting combine history had he been healthy enough to run, telling teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown he might have clocked a 4.1, besting the 4.21 posted by wide receiver Xavier Worthy last season.
Asked about Williams’ proclamation, teammates were understandably skeptical.
“I do love Jamo, but I don't think he's touching 4.1,” St. Brown said. “That's crazy.”
Goff was a little more tongue-in-cheek with his response.
“I guess,” Goff said. “If he says so. We'll have to go measure it sometime. He's hard to track down if we want to measure his 40, but if he says 4.1, we have to hold him accountable.”
Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net
X: Justin_Rogers
Bluesky: Justin-RogersLast edited by whatever_gong82; December 26, 2024, 06:05 PM."I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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All-22 breakdown of Mahogany. Looked good overall, especially for a first career start
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I love that he fired off the ball with bad intentions every play. That got him into trouble a handful of times when he got out over his skis a bit, but I’d rather have to coach him to modulate the aggression a bit than the other way around.Comment
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It's pretty crazy that having one leg longer than the other pushed him back 3 or 4 rounds. I'm not a doctor, but that seems like an over-reaction to someone who will clearly be a starting caliber OL out of the gateComment
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Hooker is still raw...the talent is there, just doesn't have much game experience. Signing Bridgewater makes perfect sense.Got Kneecaps?Comment
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"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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Go Long
The Savior? Za'Darius Smith is out for vengeance (and a ring)
He's still pissed at the Packers. How things ended elsewhere forever serves as fuel. A good thing for these Detroit Lions. They'll need "Z" — in full — to go on a Super Bowl run.
Tyler Dunne
Dec 27
ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Welcome to the museum. Walk through this Detroit Lions locker room and you’ll find countless relics declared too old, too damaged by other GMs.
No team has been ravaged by sprains and breaks and tears to this extreme. All season, general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell have Frankenstein’d a 53-man roster together. Despite 21 players landing on IR, they’re 13-2 with a real shot at both the No. 1 seed and a Super Bowl run. And it’s only possible with the heirlooms found on this bitter-cold day in December. “Northern savages,” Campbell calls the animals on defense.
Jamal Adams is relaxing in his locker stall. The safety who once basked in the NYC spotlight has endured more physical and mental torment than anyone knows. There’s bearded grunt Pat O’Connor, discarded by Tampa Bay. There’s Ben Niemann, on his fourth team since ‘23. David Long Jr. started this ‘24 season as a Dolphins captain and the beast within was fed again when they abruptly released him on Nov. 13. (Detroit did the same this week.) Ten-year vet Kwon Alexander supplied 29 snaps. (He was waived, too.)
On offense, you’ll see a grinning 11-year vet (Allen Robinson) who didn’t even make the Giants’ 53-man roster in camp. And Tim Patrick. All he did was overcome a torn ACL and torn Achilles in back-to-back years with the Broncos. And Dan Skipper. Wondering why this 6-foot-9 swing tackle is currently dominating at the ping-pong table? The fact that he’s been cut nearly two dozen times in his career probably helps. He’s been honing his back swing against most of the NFL.
Detroit’s vibrant pro scouting staff deserves a hefty Christmas bonus for finding the right ingredients week to week to week. Because two losses should’ve completely derailed this organization’s dreams: defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (tibia, fibula) on Oct. 13 and defensive tackle Alim McNeill (ACL) on Dec. 15. “Hutch” might’ve won defensive player of the year honors in a rout. McNeill, a total reflection of the Lions, is the game’s most disruptive interior rusher.
Which is why the highlight of this tour is the 6-foot-4, 270-pound specimen acquired to slam quarterbacks into the turf.
Za’Darius Smith is the preeminent “savage” who must star on Sundays.
He’s got the pelts on the wall — 72 sacks, 178 quarterback hits, three Pro Bowls. Most important? He’s still furious. Under this regime, the Lions have always treated their roster as more of a chemistry experiment that goes beyond size and skill specifications. Beyond film. Beyond analytics. More than any coach in the NFL, Campbell embraces the reality that football is a violent game. As such, its participants must be driven by something… extra.
Smith wants a ring. He got close in three straight years with the Green Bay Packers. “I want to be that leader,” he says, “who helps the football team go all the way.” But two teams standing in Detroit’s way just so happen to be two of Smith’s previous employers: the Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. So, he enunciates each word with baritone authority. He’s certain Holmes and Campbell wanted to infuse their defense with a player fueled by revenge — Smith is sure both knew that “Z is going to be on fire.”
He’s still exceptionally pissed at the Packers. You may recall Smith first opening up to Go Long in 2022 about how the team handled his back injury.
Turns out, he was only scratching the surface that conversation.
He has a lot more to say.
“It wasn’t right. I gave that team my all. They lied to me about my back,” Smith begins. “For a lot of fans who think I did wrong or was the mean guy in the locker room, that’s not my M.O. I’m not that type of player. I want to help my team win. But they didn’t know that story. And outside looking in, I’d be mad at me, too.”
He won’t forgive. He won’t forget. He’d love the chance to end their season. (Minnesota, too.) At 32 years old, Smith can go long stretches without dinging the quarterback. But even with the Lions — his fifth team in a decade — Smith has teased that he’s the rusher most-equipped to wreck a playoff game. One sack, one turnover is all this dynamite offense needs. Smith is well aware that the defense needs someone to put on the Superman cape.
The Packers hated when Smith opened up this wound in 2022, and they’ll probably hate it again. Smith doesn’t care.
This scar never healed, and that’s a good thing for the Lions.
They’ll need “Z” on fire.
The breakup never should’ve been so ugly. Z, at the price of four years, $66 million, was the player who proved GM Brian Gutekunst is willing to spend money to win. Z totaled 30 sacks with Green Bay. As the organization transitioned from Mike McCarthy to Matt LaFleur, Smith was exactly what those Aaron Rodgers-quarterbacked teams needed.
Then, without warning, the relationship deteriorated.
It all began when Smith felt a sharp pain in his back weightlifting ahead of training camp.
Green Bay’s medical staff took a look and — per Smith — instructed the pass rusher to simply do more core work. They didn’t say anything about a bulge in his back. Smith knew there was something very wrong and wanted it fixed ASAP, so he sought a second opinion. Specifically, the opinion of a doctor many NFL players seek for back issues: Dr. Robert Watkins, an orthopedic spine surgeon in Marina Del Ray, Calif. This did not sit well with the Packers. Covid protocols remained stringent the summer of 2021, and Smith was unvaccinated.
Smith believes this is why the Packers did not want him to fly to L.A.
“I didn’t have the vaccine,” he adds, “so for me to leave the building, they didn’t accept that.”
Still, Smith felt the urgent need to have someone else examine his back. Watkins previously worked wonders with Rob Gronkowski and Jason Pierre-Paul. The Packers told Smith that he’d need to be back the next morning, which meant paying for a flight that’d fly him back that same night of his visit. (“I had to pay $70,000 to go make sure everything was OK with me.”) Out in L.A., Watkins asked Smith if he felt a pain shooting down his leg. He did. Watkins informed him that he had a large bulge on his back that was striking a nerve. When Smith asked the doctor why the Packers didn’t tell him this, Watkins’ blunt response was, “They’re not going to tell you that.”
“He kept it real with me,” Smith says. “From then on out, everything went downhill.”
Smith flew back to Watkins to have surgery and wanted to stay out west for his rehab.
The Packers fined him each day he was gone.
“This is what the fans aren’t knowing,” Smith says. “It added up to a million dollars. They didn’t void it. They kept it because I wanted to leave and go check my back.”
When he returned, about a month after surgery, Smith felt like a pariah — “a nobody” — to everyone in the Packers building.
Since he wasn’t around for training camp, he wasn’t named a captain.
One day, his temper boiled over. On the carpeted hallway outside of the locker room, the Packers instructed Smith to run. They wanted to test out that surgically repaired back.
“Trying to rush me in back,” Smith says. “When I was running, I said, ‘What the fuck y’all doing? Why are y’all doing this?’ They gave me something to squat with. I got my stuff and I went home. I left. So that’s where the confusion came from: ‘Z ain’t a team leader. He just ditched his teammates.’ But the world’s not knowing.
“Nobody feels that pain but me. It worked out. If I would’ve stayed there, I wouldn’t still be playing football.”
Watkins shaved the bulge off of the nerve. Once the Packers acknowledged that bulge, Smith says, they wanted to take it out completely. And if that would’ve happened, he’s convinced his career would’ve ended in short order.
Nobody knew any of this in real time.
That 2021 season, Smith didn’t speak to the press. He figured it was best to keep his lips sealed to prevent himself from being too honest and becoming a distraction. Nor did he completely shut it down. Smith returned in time for the playoffs and even humiliated guard Laken Tomlinson to sack Jimmy Garoppolo in Green Bay’s divisional playoff loss to San Francisco. That offseason, he signed with the Vikings to stick it to the Packers. When we spoke then, Smith made it clear he had the Week 1 matchup circled on his calendar. “I put my back on the fucking line,” he said then. “And that Year 3, I was treated bad. That’s why I’m here now. So, I can play them twice a year.”
That spring, Smith was already preparing the speech he’d give Viking teammates ahead of that Packers game.
Whatever he said worked to perfection. This fresh new chapter of Smith’s career started with a bang.
U.S. Bank Stadium was deafening when Smith emerged from the smoke for Game No.1. The team’s P.A. announcer introduced Smith and teammate Danielle Hunter as “The Edge Department,” the crowd boomed and the Vikings D thoroughly slapped Rodgers around in a 23-7 win. On a third and 8 in the first half, Smith bench-pressed the right guard into the quarterback’s face for a sack and proceeded to crawl 6 ½ yards and scoop more pretend food into his mouth. Through his first nine games, Smith recorded 9 ½ sacks with a pressure rate of 20.8 percent. Both numbers ranked in the Top 2 of the 164 players who logged 100 pass-rush snaps during the same stretch.
However, his productivity dropped considerably the final eight games. Smith managed a half-sack the rest of the way with an 11.4 pressure rate. A knee bruise and sore elbow probably did not help.
Into the next offseason, the Vikings also faced major money issues.
He did the math. He knew GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was crunching the contractual numbers on both himself and Hunter. Considering the money that Hunter wanted — and what he believed he was worth himself — Smith deduced that there was another team out there that’d pay market price. So, he beat the Vikes to the punch. In February, he prepared to sell his Minnesota home. In March, he tweeted a farewell that generated 7.9 million views.
“They were trying to say, ‘Z, we’re going to call you back. We’re going to try to figure it out.’ But they were trying to figure him out before they figured me out,” Smith says. “But my contract was already a three-year deal. Danielle Hunter was on this last year of this deal. So they were like, ‘Alright, we’re going to try to trade one of y’all.’ That’s how it happened. So I was like, ‘OK, you can trade me.’ That’s why I sent the message. I already knew that’s what they wanted to do.”
continued.."I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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Animosity doesn’t cut nearly as deep with the Vikings. Smith has a ton of respect for their organization. He repeats that he loved his year with the Vikings — the “Skol!” chant ‘n all — but, of course, there’s a little added motivation here. There always is.
After 1 ½ years in Cleveland, Smith landed with another contender. He was pegged as the man to replace Hutchinson.
Perhaps it’s an impossible request.
Next to the quarterback, it’s hard to fathom a more devastating blow. Through five games, Hutchinson was on pace for 25.5 sacks and 58 quarterback hits. The former No. 2 overall pick was ascending into rarefied air occupied by only Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt. Next to Hutchinson, it’s hard to imagine a worse loss than McNeill. In October, he became the fourth-highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL at $24.25 million per year. Nobody’s more disruptive in the middle of a defense. And, oh. The player signed to apply pressure on the opposite edge, Marcus Davenport, was lost for the season in September with a torn triceps.
All of which severely hampered Detroit’s pass rush.
The Lions dealt a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 sixth to Cleveland for Smith and a 2026 seventh-rounder. They assumed $605,000 of his base salary and have an out this spring if they’d like to move on.
In explosive spurts, Smith has proven he can give this defense exactly what it needs. His first game, on fourth and 7, he lined up inside and trashed center Mitch Morse with a swim move to sack Mac Jones in a 52-6 blowout win. On Thanksgiving Day — 36 seconds left, lined up wide, momentum swinging Chicago’s way — he rushed untouched to sack Caleb Williams and trigger the worst clock management of the 2024 season. And then, on his first play against those Packers, Smith KO’d right tackle Zach Tom with power to hurl quarterback Jordan Love to the turf.
Immediately, he army-crawled on all fours… pretended to shovel food into his mouth… jolted to his feet to flex his biceps. Ford Field erupted.
The Lions held to win, 34-31. Beating Green Bay was personal.
Back when our first story on Smith went live, head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters that he “respected the crap out of Z as a player,” but added: “I think we may have a different perspective of how things transpired.” When this quote is relayed to Smith today, he scowls and says he’d love for LaFleur to explain that “perspective” to him.
Here in Lions Country, it took all of one game for defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to describe both Smith’s personality and energy as “out of this world,” adding that his violence fits the nature of the entire team.
At the line of scrimmage, Glenn loves how Smith uses his hands to waste both guards and tackles.
“That’s his superpower,” Glenn said then, “how violent his hands are, and you really never get to know that until you get up to a person and really see it. Dan does a really good job of having these 1-on-1, competitive periods and we have the O-line against the D-line. When I first saw it, I was like, ‘Woah.’ And listen, he’s going to impart anything that he has that can help the young guys. The week that he didn’t play with (Josh) Paschal, he was in there coaching him. And he does that on an everyday basis.”
Of course, this unit started to break bad the second half of its win over Green Bay on Thursday Night Football. Over a six-quarter span, the Lions allowed 72 points and registered only one sack. Last week’s win over the Bears stemmed the tide but there should be concern. Distilled to simplest terms, winning NFL games is all about 1.) supreme quarterback play and 2.) harassing the quarterback. With Jared Goff, the Lions are fully equipped to score points in bunches. They’re averaging 32.9 points per game (first in NFL), 408.6 yards per game (second) and rank second in DVOA.
We can all fully expect the team’s riverboat gamblin’ head coach to take more risks than ever before to compensate for a flawed defense.
Without question, they’ll need some semblance of a pass rush to go the distance. They’ll need Smith.
It should be noted that the respective pass rushes in Green Bay and Minnesota are heating up. It’s hard to say how many snaps Smith would even get with either of his former teams.
Earning homefield advantage would be massive. These Lions would love to bait a pair of NFC teams into track meets at Ford Field. Smith is about to play the most important football games of his life. First up, the San Francisco 49ers. Campbell’s crew has a chance to take Kyle Shanahan’s Old Yeller of a football team out back to exact a small slice of revenge for last year’s NFC title loss. Then, the Vikings come to town. They’re the healthiest, most complete team in the conference.
Sam Darnold is playing like a quarterback worthy of the next giant quarterback contract.
The pass rusher Minnesota let walk must be the difference.
Smith insists that he has genuinely reshaped his perspective. He doesn’t care how many snaps he plays. (“It’s all about playing a role with this football team. That’s why this football team is so great.”) He’s not stressing about the very real financial ramifications ahead. Two more sacks will give him 10 for the season and a $250,000 bonus. Four more sacks would pay him a $500,000 bonus. And if he reaches either incentive, Smith earns an extra $250,000 for Detroit reaching the playoffs.
Deliver in the postseason, and he can expect a nice slice of pie, too.
Smith has every reason to convince the Lions to keep him around next season.
“Look, man. It’s not even about the money anymore,” Smith says. “It’s about winning. Getting that ring. I’m still bringing an impact on the football team at the age of 32. So, it’s pouring into the younger guys like Paschal. He went to Kentucky. I played with his brother. It’s being a leader to those guys and passing it down like how the older guys passed it down to me. Terrell Suggs, Elvis Dumervil.”
He knows if the others up front — Josh Paschal, Al-Quadin Muhammad, etc. — see him doing extra work after practice that they’ll adopt the same approach. During film sessions, he’s trying to point out all hidden glitches in protections. Even as one of the new guys, Smith is embracing a leadership role. And why not? He’s been through a lot in his own life. He can still remember all of his mother’s valuable lessons. Sharon worked at Butler County Correctional Facility. So when Smith’s older friends got themselves locked up, she made her eighth-grade son sit in the cell with them for a half-hour. The tiny bunk beds. The disgusting lunch. Seeing five dudes share toilet. All of it showed “Z” that he never wanted to end up in prison.
This day, he’s asked what specific turning point replays in his mind ahead of this defining moment of his football life. Smith stares ahead, squints in silence as music pumps through the locker room and pinpoints his decision to attend East Mississippi Community College. After playing all of one season of high school ball, Smith barely knew anything beyond simple technique. He credits the team’s defensive line coach, Jimmy Brumbaugh, for teaching him the sport itself.
“That moment right there changed my life,” Smith says. “If I would’ve went anywhere else, I probably wouldn’t have got the coaching that I wanted. Probably wouldn’t have gotten the love and the father figure that I got from him in junior college.”
Once Brumbaugh was named the D-Line coach at Kentucky, it was an easy choice. Smith had never been to the school, never met the coaches but knew he needed to follow Brumbaugh. It worked out.
Eleven years later, Smith truly believes he’s here in Allen Park, Mich., for a reason.
Dan Campbell has been a kindred spirit. He wants a coach who’s red in the face, popping veins in his neck, dropping F-bombs.
“Some of the stories that he tells, man, it gets you pumped up,” Smith says. “It gets you going crazy. I’m happy to be here with this group and hopefully I can be here for the rest of my career.”
The reason Campbell went full Macho Man Randy Savage on 97.1 after Detroit’s loss to Buffalo is that his Detroit Lions have a realistic chance to win their first championship since 1957. He’s been in the NFL as a player and a coach since ‘99 — Campbell knows damn well that such an opportunity can be fleeting. One timely sack, one forced fumble, hell, one pressure on third and 7, may be all it takes to win games.
Like his coach, Smith instantly embraced everything Detroit.
Ahead of his first game as a Lion, he rocked a Rasheed Wallace jersey. A homage to the scowling, snarling, foul-mouthed power forward who helped propel the 2004 Pistons to championship glory. Smith will gladly take a bite out of that molded bread and pour everything he has into his 40 to 50 snaps. He’s aiming to have the same effect as his doppelganger on the hardwood.
And if he has it his way? Za’Darius Smith will face those Green Bay Packers along the way, too.
"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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