Za’Darius Smith not expected to play Sunday vs. Texans

USA Today

Lions fans will have to wait a week to see the debut of new edge rusher Za’Darius Smith. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Smith, who was acquired by the Lions on Tuesday just before the trade deadline, will not play Sunday night against the Houston Texans.

https://twitter.com/rapsheet/status/1855506929985958069?s=46&t=CkJbCrfGw4guyBfYltR-YA

Rapoport reports Smith is “not quite ready.” This could also be a case of the Lions giving Smith some time off. The Browns did not have their bye week before making this trade and the Lions have already had their bye week.

In other words, if Smith had played today, he would have potentially not had his own bye week and could have played 18 games. So this could also be simple load management by the Lions.

Articles You May Like

Ranking every player on the Detroit Lions 2025 roster: 80-71
Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph land inside top 5 of ESPN’s safety rankings
Mailbag: Are the Detroit Lions ahead of NFL positional trends?
Open thread: Rank Lions by probability of returning to the Pro Bowl
Ranking every player on the 2025 Lions roster: Big risers, fallers from 2024

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *