The Detroit Lions can't avoid injuries on the defensive side of the ball and that's not a new trend, unfortunately. Ian Rapoport reported on Monday afternoon that the Lions placed Marcus Davenport on injured reserve with a pec strain.
While Davenport shouldn't be out more than four games according to Rapoport, this is still a blow to the Lions defensive depth. To make matters worse, losing Davenport wouldn't have been as big of a blow if the Lions had done what the fans wanted and signed former Lions fan favorite Za'Darius Smith.
Smith was vocal about wanting to rejoin the Lions after spending the back half of the 2024 season in Detroit. He had four sacks in eight games and was exactly the player they were hoping he'd be when they acquired him yet the team felt okay not re-signing him because of Davenport. That take is not aging too well right now.
Lions were wrong not to re-sign Za'Darius Smith
Smith went on to sign with the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles a week before the season started and he has half a sack in two games. The even more frustrating part of this whole not keeping Smith because of Davenport saga is that we all knew Davenport has struggled to stay healthy during his career. That's not news to anyone following along.
Yet, here we are, not even through Week 3 and Davenport is headed to IR and Smith could have been desperately needed on this defense. If a guy wants to return to your team, is talented, and can fill a need, that move should be being made but the Lions made the wrong decision here. That'll happen sometimes but it doesn't make it any less irritating when it does happen.
Fans were bummed that the Lions opted not to retain Smith but now seeing him with the Eagles while Davenport can't stay on the field is an even bigger kick in the teeth.