After the Detroit Lions cut him earlier this offseason, Za’Darius Smith remains without a home.
While the Lions wanted to keep the veteran edge rusher, general manager Brad Holmes made it clear the team simply couldn’t afford him.
“It was an amicable decision,” Holmes said earlier this offseason. “We couldn’t afford it is the bottom line… That was my communication with him and he understood that.”
While a reunion with the Lions remains possible, Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton thinks Smith will end up with the Tennessee Titans in free agency.
“At 32, Smith will likely draw interest from teams that need a designated closer on the edge. Based on his half-season production with the Lions, he can fill that role,” Moton wrote of Smith.
The Titans saw their edge rusher group take a big hit earlier this offseason when the team parted ways with outside linebacker Harold Landry. The signing of Dre’Mont Jones should help, but he won’t produce like Landry, which is a big problem for Tennessee’s defense.
Smith will turn 33 this year but still has plenty left in the tank. He posted nine sacks between 17 games with the Cleveland Browns and Lions last season and would immediately step in as the team’s best edge rusher and a strong bridge option.
While the Lions balked at paying Smith the $11 million or so he was set to make, the Titans would likely gladly pay that for an upgrade, and they can certainly afford it with $38.1 million in cap space currently.
The problem is that Smith is going to be keen on joining a true contender at this late stage in his career, and the Titans don’t qualify as one. That means Tennessee would have to grossly overpay, and even then it might not be enough.
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