Lions' top FA target was ranked as one of league's best pass rushers for 2025

Za'Darius Smith is still available in the free agent market after being released by the Detroit Lions. The pass rusher was traded to the Lions from the Browns during the 2024 season after Aidan Hutchinson went down with a broken leg in Week 5 of the season, and he provided some great defense to the team's defensive line.

Unfortunately, the money was obviously not matching up between himself and the Lions, but there's still some hope amongst fans that Smith will end back up on the Lions as the team needs to find a way to pair another pass rusher with Hutchinson in 2025.

According to PFF analyst Ryan Smith, the 32 year old veteran is still one of the league's best pass rushers, and he was named as the only free agent on Smith's 32-name list of the best pass rushers headed into the 2025 season.

Smith tabbed as only free agent on list of best pass rushers from PFF

Smith was ranked as the 29th best pass rusher in the NFL by PFF, outranking Kyle Van Noy, Montez Sweat, and Nick Herbig for the ranking. Smith wrote, "he ranked seventh in pass-rush win rate last season at 18.7%, his third consecutive year above 18.0% after missing all but one game in 2021 due to back surgery."

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Smith is still looking for a landing spot this offseason with the Lions still having a need for an additional defensive lineman headed into the season. They did draft two D-linemen this year, grabbing both Tyleik Williams and Ahmed Hassanein, but the team shouldn't be relying on rookies to take big leaps in Year 1 when you can just sign Smith, a reliable veteran, back to your team.

Other teams like the Chicago Bears have been lurking in the periphery as potential landing spots for Smith, as they too could use an extra punch on defense ahead of a tough 2025 season in the NFC North. As of now, it doesn't seem like he has any strong leads across the league. We do, at least, know that he'd hate landing with the Green Bay Packers.

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