I know it’s a bit disappointing becasue you waited and waited for the Detroit Lions to make a trade and then they finally did last Tuesday when they brought in former Pro Bowler Za’Darius Smith to help them out on the edge, but not playing Smith against the Texans on Sunday night is the right thing to do at the end of the day.
The biggest thing the Lions are showing this new player and future players they may want to play here is that they have nothing but respect for their guys and that they care about their players.
Smith has spent his entire season with the Browns and had he not been traded, he wouldn’t be playing this week since the Browns are on a bye week. When the trade went down, that took Smith’s bye week away from him and he would have been in position where he would have played 18 games this year. That’s a lot.
The bye week is needed for players to get a good recharge and heal up their bodies. The Lions could have forced Smith into this game and had him play without a bye, but they chose to go the route of doing the right thing by the player. Something that the previous regime defintley didn’t do. Ask Damon “Snacks” Harrison.
So while you might be upset that Smith isn’t playing and you might want to use this as ammo if the Lions potentially lose this game, just remember that this is a really good thing about this team and this is the kind of thing that makes players want to stay in Detroit or come to Detroit. This was the right thing to do.