Six months after he was briefly left unable to speak or move on the football field, Saivion Smith has re-signed with the Detroit Lions.
Smith suffered a scary injury in an October loss to the New England Patriots, when he collapsed to the ground after trying to jam Patriots tight end Hunter Henry early in the first quarter of his first start with the Lions.
Smith suffered about 20 seconds of temporary paralysis and was taken off the field by ambulance. He underwent neck fusion surgery in November and called the incident “the scariest thing of my life.”
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But he also said at the time he intended to return to football, and had no long-term concerns about his health due to the game.
“It’s just part of football,” Smith said in October. “That could have happened any play, anytime to anybody. That could have happened to the average Joe that works at McDonald’s, if he slip and fell. So I feel like it’s part of the game, it’s part of life, so do nothing but get the surgery and rehab and get better.”
Smith played in just one game for the Lions last season, when he was elevated from the practice squad, and started alongside Kerby Joseph at safety as part of a slew of changes to the team’s secondary.
The 25-year-old had a strong training camp last summer, has the ability to play both safety and cornerback, and should compete for a backup job this season.
The Lions overhauled their secondary this offseason, signing Cam Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley and C.J. Gardner-Johnson to free agent contracts, and trading Jeff Okudah to the Atlanta Falcons for a fifth-round pick.
Sutton, Mosely and Gardner-Johnson are expected to start in the Lions’ defensive backfield this fall, and safety Tracy Walker is due back this summer from a torn Achilles tendon.
The Lions finished last in the NFL in total defense and 30th in pass defense last season.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.