The Lions traded for Za’Darius Smith earlier this month in order to bolster a defensive line that’s missing Aidan Hutchinson and they got their first look at him in action in Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.
Smith played 37 of the team’s 48 defensive snaps and the veteran defensive end shared a sack with linebacker Jack Campbell. The outing was short on other individual highlights, but the 52-6 final score speaks to how overwhelming the defensive effort was on Sunday.
On Monday, Lions head coach Dan Campbell gave Smith’s first run with the team a positive review.
“I thought he did some things for us, I thought he did some good things for us,” Campbell said, via the team’s website. “It was good to have him out there. I thought, really like we talked about last week, just be a piece of this puzzle and he’s a guy that’s played, he is instinctive, he doesn’t stay blocked long, he’s really good with his hands. Like I said, he can set an edge in the run game and he’s really good at working gains with [Alim McNeill] and [D.J. Reader] and those guys. He’s got a knack for those things. So, I think, first outing with him, I thought it was good. I think he fits right in with us.”
The Lions didn’t need Smith to be a hero in Week 11, but there may be moments when more is needed from him and his debut performance suggests he’ll be able to answer that call when it comes.
