The Cleveland Browns were sellers at the trade deadline like many expected after starting the season with a 2-7 record, and on Tuesday, they dealt one of their best players.
Cleveland traded veteran pass rusher Za’Darius Smith and a 2026 seventh-round pick
to the Detroit Lions for a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick.
Smith is 32 years old and isn’t part of Brown’s future, so it was one of the big reasons he got moved; one media network was not too happy with the trade.
Cleveland Browns Receive A Poor Grade
The Bleacher Report NFL Staff put out their grades for every deal made and gave the Browns a C for trading Smith, and here were their thoughts.
Za’Darius Smith has to be the happiest man in the NFL right now. After enduring the dysfunction that the 2-7 Cleveland Browns became this season, he now gets to play for arguably the league’s best and deepest team.
The Detroit Lions are loaded at nearly every level. But they understood the assignment after Aidan Hutchinson suffered a grotesque leg injury in Week 6 against the Dallas Cowboys.
As talented as the Lions are, their defense lacked a legitimate edge-rusher beyond Hutchinson. Prior to his injury, the 2022 No. 2 overall pick was tracking toward being an NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
Thus, Detroit flipped 2025 fifth-round and 2026 sixth-round picks to the Browns for Smith and a 2026 seventh-rounder, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The 32-year-old is an established veteran with plenty of gas still left in the tank. Smith registered 10.5 sacks in his season-plus as a member of the Browns. His five sacks this season already double the Lions’ next-best (not including Hutchinson). Furthermore, Smith is signed through the 2025 season.
Cleveland isn’t close to where it wanted to be and didn’t get much in return for Smith. However, the organization can now start something of a youth movement. Both Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire have flashed, so it’s worth seeing whether either one could become a long-term bookend to Myles Garrett.
Cleveland needs all the draft help it can get, and acquiring a few picks for Smith could help the team either draft young talent or make more deals for veteran players this offseason.
The Browns will most likely make many roster moves at the end of the year and could even make major decisions regarding the front office and coaching staff.
